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General Chemistry/Measurement
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Moles
The mole is a unit used to measure the number of particles in a substance (where particles can be atoms, molecules, electrons, ions etc.). One mole of substance contains 6.02205 × 1023 particles. This rather large quantity is a constant called Avogadro's Number, which is abbreviated as NA. It simply refers to the number of particles in one mole.
For example, one mole of helium gas contains 6.022×1023 atoms; 2 moles of oxygen gas contains 1.204×1024 molecules.
Moles and Mass
It would be useful to be able to convert between the number of moles and the mass of a substance. The molar mass is the mass of one mole of a substance, measured in grams per mole or . Not by coincidence, the molar mass is the same as the atomic weight of a substance (this is how the concept of moles was originally defined).
For example, the molar mass (and atomic weight) of carbon-12 is 12 g·mol−1, so 1 mole of carbon-12 weighs 12 grams. Similarly, chlorine has a molar mass of 35.45 g·mol−1, so one mole of chlorine atoms weighs 35.45 g. There are two chlorine atoms in one molecule of Cl2 gas, so one mole of Cl2 gas weighs 70.90 g.
Measurement and Quantities
See the Units Appendix for tables of SI fundamental and derived units.
Commonly used units in Chemistry
Quantity
Commonly used units and symbols
Conversions (etc)
amount of substance
mole, mol
1 mol = 6.022×1023 particles
concentration (solutions)
mole per litre, mol L-1
gram per litre, g L-1
(mol L-1)(g mol-1) = g L-1
(g L-1)/(g mol-1) = mol L-1
electric charge
coulomb, C
electric current
ampere, A
electromotive force
volt, V
energy
joule, J
kilojoule, kJ
1000 J = 1 kJ
density
gram per litre, g L-1
mass
gram, g
kilogram, kg
ton
1 tonne = 1000 kg = 1×106 g
molar volume
litre per mole, L mol-1
22.41 L (S.T.P)
22.47 L (25 °C, 101.325 kPa)
pressure
kilopascal, kPa
atmosphere, atm
millimetre of mercury, mmHg
1 atm = 101.324 kPa = 760.0 mmHg
temperature
kelvin, K
degree celsius, °C
TK = TC + 273.15
time
second, s
hour, h
1 h = 3600 s
volume
litre, L
millilitre, mL
cubic centimetre, cm3
cubic decimetre, dm3
1 L = 1000 mL = 1 dm3 = 1000 cm3
Commonly used prefixes
PrefixSymbolFactorteraT1012gigaG109megaM106kilok103millim10−3microµ10−6nanon10−9picop10−12