Video:What Is a Mole?
with Anne Marie HelmenstineA mole is a unit of measurement used often in chemical reactions. Learn basic facts about a mole and when to use it.See Transcript
Transcript:What Is a Mole?
What Is a Mole
A mole is simply a unit of measurement. Moles are used because in chemical reactions, at levels where using grams wouldn't make sense, yet using absolute numbers of atoms, molecules or ions would be confusing, too.Number of Particles in a Mole
A mole is the quantity of anything that has the same number of particles found in 12 grams of carbon-12.That number of particles is Avogadro's Number, which is roughly 6.02x10^23 . A mole of carbon atoms is 6.02x10^23 carbon atoms.It's a lot easier to write the word 'mole' than to write '6.02x10^23' anytime you want to refer to a large number of things. Basically, that's why this particular unit was invented.
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