What is mole in chemistry and how to calculate it?

What is mole in chemistry and how to calculate it?

In chemistry, Mole, spelled mol, is a well-known scientific unit for measuring huge portions of microscopic entities along with atoms, molecules, or different distinctive particles. The mole designates a very massive variety of units, 6.02 × 1023. 

The General Conference on Weights and Measures described the mole as this variety for the International System of Units (SI) powerful from May 20, 2019. The mole changed into formerly described because the variety of atoms decided experimentally to be determined in 12 grams of carbon-12. 

The variety of gadgets in a mole additionally bears the call Avogadro’s variety, or Avogadro’s constant, in honor of the Italian physicist Amedeo Avogadro (1776–1856). Avogadro proposed that identical volumes of gases beneath equal situations incorporate an equal variety of molecules, which proved beneficial in figuring out atomic and molecular weights and caused the idea of the mole.

Further in this article, we will discuss the basic definition of mol, its explanation, and the methods to calculate mol. 

Definition of mole: 

A mole is defined as 6.02 × 1023 of some chemical unit, be it atoms, molecules, ions, or others. 

Formula of mole:

Generally, the following formula is used to find the mole of a substance. 

Mole = Mass/Molecular weight

Why mole is used as a unit?

Why do not we without a doubt stay with units like grams (Nanograms and kilograms, etc.)? The solution is that moles provide us with a constant technique to transform among atoms/molecules and grams. It's a handy unit to apply while doing calculations.

 You might not discover it too handy while you are first studying the way to use it, however, when you end up acquainted with it, a mole could be as ordinary a unit as, say, a dozen or a byte.

How to calculate the mole of a substance?

The procedure of calculating the mole of a substance is quite easy in the example section, we have described the step-by-step solution. 

Example 1:

Find the number of moles in 30 grams of H2. 

Solution:

Step 1: Write the given data

Mass of Hydrogen = 30 

Molecular mass = 2 * 1.008 = 2.016 

∴ as the molecule of H2 contains two atoms.

Step 2: Put the values in the formula 

Mole = mass / molecular weight

Mole = 30 / 2.016 = 14.880 mol

30 grams of hydrogen has 14.880 moles.

A mole calculator is a helpful resource to calculate the mole of the substance in a couple of a second with steps.  

Example 2:

Find the number of moles in 100 grams of NaCl. 

Solution:

Step 1: Write the given data

Mass of NaCl = 100

The atomic mass of Na = 22.98 

The atomic mass of Cl = 35.453 

The molecular mass of NaCl = 35.453 + 22.98 = 58.44 g/mol

Step 2: Put the values in the formula 

Mole of NaCl = mass / molecular weight

Mole NaCl = 100 / 58.44 = 1.711 mol

100 grams of NaCl has 1.711 moles.

Conversion: Mole to grams. 

In chemistry, we usually convert moles of a substance into grams. When balancing equations, the molar ratio of reactants to reactants will be used. To try this conversion, all you want is a periodic table or any other listing of atomic masses.

Example: Convert 0.5 moles of CO2 into grams. 

Solution:

Step 1: Look up the periodic table and find the atomic masses of carbon and oxygen. The atomic mass is the gram per mole of an atom. 

The atomic mass of carbon = 12.01

The atomic mass of oxygen = 16.00 

But in the case of carbon dioxide, there are two atoms of oxygen and 1 atom of carbon. 

Atomic mass of O2 = 2 * 16.00 = 32.00 

Step 2:

Atomic mass or number of grams per mole of carbon dioxide can be obtained by adding up both masses. 

Grams per mole of carbon dioxide (CO2) = 12.01 + 32.00 

Grams per mole of carbon dioxide (CO2) = 44.01 gmol-1

Step 3:

Multiply the grams per mole by 0.5 to get the required answer. 

Total grams in 0.5 moles of carbon dioxide = 0.5 g * 44.01 gmol-1

Total grams in 0.5 moles of carbon dioxide = 22.005 g

Summary: 

In this article, we have discussed the basic concept of mole, its definition, and some basic history. Mole is one of the most important concepts of chemistry, in almost every numerical problem we need to convert grams to mole or vice versa. 

In the example section, we have briefly described the method of calculating the mole of a substance, hopefully, it will be very beneficial for you and you’ll be able to solve the problems related to it.