Why was 6.02 to the 23rd power chosen to be value of a mole when there are so many possible numbers?

Question

Does the number mean something

Answer 1

It is the number of atoms of an element needed to make up the molecular weight in GRAMS, not milligrams. One mole of Carbon 12 has a mass of 12g, not 0.012g.

Answer 2

Its origin was not bassed on carbon at all.

It all actually starts with hydrogen.

Chemists realised that in reactions a given number of parts of one material (they did not know about atoms) reacted with a given number of another; the ratios differed for different reactions depending on what became known as valence.

So for instance:

2H + O -> H2O

means 1 gramme of hydrogen reacts with 8 grammes of oxygen.

Avogadro realised that this meant that the amount known as the molecular weight of an element must contain the same number of particles. the reference element chosen originall was oxygen, and the mole was defined as the number of particles in a molecular weight - ie 16 grammes - of oxygen. This is of course the same in principle as in 1 gramme of hydrogen.

Answer 3

It's actually 6.02 x 10^23, not 6.02^23.

It was chosen because that is the number of how many singular entities exist in .012 grams of Carbon-12, which is a common constant used in Chemistry and Physics.

Answer 4

Yes, it was experimentally determined.