Talk:Mole (unit)
From Academic Kids
why is it called a mole??
I thought I'd link the "particle" to a relevant article but I could only find particle which is generic, particle physics which isn't very relevant, and subatomic particle which at first seemed to fit but turns out not to after all. The current text is using "particle" in a sense that seems to be narrow and technical but explicitly includes atoms and molecules. Is the term just being used generically to mean something like "small speck," or is there a more precise definition for "particle" when used in this chemical sense? 24.80.122.19 06:41, 14 Apr 2004 (UTC)
Particle is a general statement in Chemistry. You use it in explanations when what you're referring to are atoms or molecules and whatnot. This is because both the terms atom and molecule are themselves specific. An atom is one individual atom (eg. Mg or Na just there by themself) and a molecule refers to a substance that contains several atoms in it, eg. Glucose (C6H12O6).
So when you're talking about the mole you use the term particle in the explanation because moles are applicable to more than one thing.
Half a mole?
From my knowledge (I'm still in High School chemistry though) it is incorrect use a value of 3.5 (or anything but a whole number) when dealing with the coeffecients in a chemical formula. Did my teacher just explain it this way to simplify it?
It isn't incorrect. I'm used to see formulas like H2 + 1/2O2 -> H2O. But neither is it very common.
.012 kg?
Why does the article use the term ".012 kg"? Wouldn't it be more logical to state that as "12 g"? Nik42 08:54, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC)
- Probably because the author wants to express this quantity in another SI base unit, the kilogram, rather than a derived unit like the gram. –Peter J. Acklam 07:13, 7 Feb 2005 (UTC)
- Ah, right, one of the oddities of the metric system ... the prefix-less form is derived from the prefixed form ... :-) Nik42 04:46, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)
