this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2023
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freedom units be like (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by bi_tux to c/[email protected]
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[–] batmaniam 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

A mole isn't just convenient. I'm sure there's a youtube somewhere that explains it but advagadros number is a product of the fact that: 1) every atom of an element has a weight (or at least an average) and 2) atoms interact in integer quantities. If you put those two together there is a common multiplier for a stochiometric equation that is related to the mass of a given atom in that stoichiometry. That multiplier is the the mole.

edit: I guess that's kind of a factor, but it's really more of an derived unit. If there was a new element discovered a mole would still describe it's stoichiometry, and IIRC that's how a lot of the periodic table was filled out my Mendelov.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No it's simply a big number. We are stuck with it due to history, but at its core it's a dimensionless quantity. You can do every single calculation without moles. Sure, yo may have to adjust some constants (boltzman constant vs gas constant for example), but it's not a unit in the same sense a meter or a second is.

[–] batmaniam 1 points 1 year ago

I don't know exactly what you'd call it, but respectfully, it's not just a big number.

Ignoring other isotopes (which, all you need to do to adjust for that is use the weighted average), if you have 12 grams of carbon, 63 of copper, etc you will have 6.02E23 molecules of each. The value is implied by the fact that again, atoms have a consistent mass and react in integer quantities. A mol could have been any value, but that's like saying that a meter could have been as well. The existence of some value that marries the atomic mass of each element to a quantity of atoms is inherit the same way pi is inherit to a circle.