DEA / A. CALEGARI
How to Celebrate Mole Day
Because chemists just wanna have fun.
Happy Mole Day!
What's that? You have no idea what Mole Day is? Well you've come to the right place.
Mole Day occurs every October 23 from 6:02am to 6:02pm in honor of Avogadro’s Number. This number - or, a mole - is a basic measuring unit for atoms and molecules discovered by Amedeo Avogadro, an 18th century Italian scientist.
Avogadro’s Number is (6.02 x 10^23). Get it? The first number is the time 6:02 and the second number is the date 10/23. The full number written out is 602,214,076,000,000,000,000,000.
According to the Mole Day Foundation:
"For a given molecule, one mole is a mass (in grams) whose number is equal to the molar mass of the molecule. For example, the water molecule has a molar mass of 18, therefore one mole of water weighs 18 grams. Similarly, a mole of neon has a molar mass of 20 grams. In general, one mole of any substance contains Avogadro's Number of molecules or atoms of that substance."
Put another way, a mole is just an easier way to count large numbers of atoms and molecules.
Chemists and science students around the world celebrate Mole Day with themed events, chemistry experiments, and nerdy desserts. There are MOLEtiple ways to honor Avogadro’s discovery.
Speaking of puns, since 1991 each Mole Day has a unique theme. The 2019 theme is DespicaMOLE Me.
Past year's themes include:
- 2014 - Mole-O-Ween
- 2015 - May The Moles Be With You
- 2016 - Periodic Table of EleMoleMents
- 2017 - The MOLEVENGERS
- 2018 - Moley Potter
So celebrate away, because Mole Day exists to help promote chemistry education! To become a member of the Mole Day Foundation visit https://www.moleday.org/.
