National Mole Day

Happy Mole Day!!!

On the 23rd of October from 6:02 AM to 6:02 PM (6:02 10/23) is National Mole Day, a day of appreciation for chemistry and Avogadro’s Number (6.02 x 10^23), the basic measuring unit in chemistry. A Mole is simply an amount of substance, like a dozen. It is based on the number of atoms in 0.012 kilograms of carbon-12, currently empirically measured at 6.02214179(30)×10²³ mol^-1. It also has the property:

That quantity of a substance whose mass in grams is the same as its formula weight. For example, iron has an relative atomic mass of 55.845 u, so a mole of iron has a mass of 55.845 grams. This notation is very commonly used by chemists and physicists. (source)

Fun Facts (taken from yahoo answers)

• One mole of paper would make a stack that would reach to the moon more than 80 billion times
• A one liter bottle of water contains 55.5 moles of water.
• One mole of inches would be1,616,434 light years, or across our galaxy and back 8 times
• One mole of seconds is about 19 quadrillion years, 4,240,666 times the age of the earth, or 954,150 times the age of the universe itself
• One mole of cents could repay the United States National Debt 86 million times

The American Chemical Society also celebrates National Chemistry Week this week. Its 2007 Theme is The Many Faces of Chemistry, “Celebrating the diversity of the discipline and its practitioners.” They also have lots of activities for children interested in DIY chemistry.

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Mole Day may alternately be celebrated on June 2nd from 10:23 AM to 10:23 PM (6/02 10:23).