Mole Activities/Lab

THE MOLE

No, not on your face! The mole, in scientific measurement, is a number! It is shown as:

 6.02 × 10²³

Each element measures a different amount, when it comes to the mole. Ever wonder why there are two numbers on each element when they're in their place on the periodic table? The first number is, of course, the number of the element, but what's that other number for? That's how much of that element (in grams, or abbreviated as "g") measures into 1 mole (abbreviated as "mol"). So for example, 1 mole of Aluminum would be 26.982g.

So how do I calculate figure out how many moles are in a certain amount g?
For example, you are trying to find how many moles are in 15 grams of lithium. Here, you will multiply by 15 at the beginning of the equation. Next, there wil be a fraction of 1 mole over 6.94gLi. Divide the fraction and multiply the answer by 15. This should bring you to the answer of 2.16 moles.

(1 mol)

           15 g × (6.94 g Li) = 2.16 mol

So what if I wanted to calculate how many g are in a certain amount of moles?
This equation will look very similar, but each part of this equation will have a different location. Observe.
Example: How many grams are in 2.4 moles of Sulfur?

(32.06gS)

2.4 mol × (1 mol) = 76.94 g S

Some fun facts about the mole!

• 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 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