What's a mole?

Question

as in chemistry

Answer 1

A mole is the amount of that material that contains 6.02 x 10^23 atoms or molecules of that material.

A mole of any element or compound is equal to the mass of the element or compound (from the periodic table) measured in grams.

1 mol Na = 23 g Na
1 mol C = 12 g C
1 mol H2O = 1 + 1+ 16 = 18 g H2O

Answer 2

A mole of something is 6.02 x 10^23 of that something. Its similar to the term dozen which is 12 of something. So a dozen donuts is 12 donuts, and a mole of donuts is 6.02 x 10^23 donuts.
Obviously the therm mole is used in relationship to atoms and compounds and not donuts, but its easier to understand when you think about it that way.

Take 6H2O for example. The amount of moles of H2O is 6. The amount of Oxygen atoms in 6 moles of H2O would be 6 x (6.0 x 10^23). The amount of Hydrogen atoms in 6 moles of H2O would be 6 x 2 x (6.02 x 10^23)

The amount of molecules in 6 moles of H2O is 6 x (6.02 x 10^23)

A reaction is given in terms of moles.
For example in the reaction:
6CO2 + 6H2O --> C6H12O6+ 6O2, the products are 1 mole of glucose and 6 moles of Oxygen, not 1 molecule of glucose and 6 molecules of Oxygen

Answer 3

A mole is the number of atoms/molecules necessary to get the number of grams (of the atom/molecule) equal to the atomic weight of the atom/molecule.

For example, the atomic weight of sodium (Na) is 23. So a mole of sodium would be the number of sodium atoms needed to make 23 grams of sodium.

Water (H2O) has an atomic weight of (2x1) + (1x16), or 18. So a mole of water molecules would be the number of water molecules in 18 grams of water.

The actual number of atoms/molecules in a mole is constant, which makes it useful for figuring out how much of the constituent elements/compounds you need to add together to get a certain amount of product. For example, if you wanted to combine hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) to make water (H2O), you'd know that you needed two moles of H2 for every one mole of O2. But you can't just put in two grams of O2 for every gram of H2 because O2 molecules are so much heavier. You'd have to figure out how many moles of each you'd need, then convert back to grams.

Answer 4

The number of grams of a compound that is numerically equal to it's molecular weight in atomic mass units (amu).
1 amu =1.66053 * 10 ^ -24 g

Answer 5

http://www.answers.com/topic/mole

Answer 6

a blind little critter that digs tunnels especially where you don't want them to be, like a golf course or a prize winning lawn.

Answer 7

its 6.022*10^23

Answer 8

a unit of something or other......