Mole (unit) - Definition and Related Concepts

Definition and Related Concepts

As of 2011, the mole is defined by BIPM to be an amount of a substance that contains as many elementary entities (e.g. atoms, molecules, ions, electrons) as there are atoms in 12 grams of pure carbon-12 (12C), the isotope of carbon with atomic weight 12. Thus, by definition, one mole of pure 12C has a mass of exactly 12 g. It also follows from the definition that X moles of any substance will contain the same number of molecules as X moles of any other substance.

The mass per mole of a substance is called its molar mass. Since the standard unit for expressing the mass of molecules or atoms (the dalton or atomic mass unit) is defined as 1/12 of the mass of a 12C atom, it follows that the molar mass of a substance, measured in grams per mole, is exactly equal to its mean molecular or atomic mass, measured in daltons; which is to say, to the substance's mean molecular or atomic weight.

The number of elementary entities in a sample of a substance is technically called its (chemical) amount. Therefore, the mole is a convenient unit for that physical quantity. One can determine the chemical amount of a known substance, in moles, by dividing the sample's mass by the substance's molar mass. Other methods include the use of the molar volume or the measurement of electric charge.

It should be noted that the mass of one mole of a substance depends not only on its molecular formula, but also on the proportion of the isotopes of each element present in it. For example, one mole of calcium-40 is 39.96259098 ± 0.00000022 grams, whereas one mole of calcium-42 is 41.95861801 ± 0.00000027 grams, and one mole of calcium with the normal isotopic mix is 40.078 ± 0.004 grams.

Since the definition of the gram is not (as of 2011) mathematically tied to that of the dalton, the number N_A of molecules in a mole (Avogadro's number) must be determined experimentally. The value adopted by CODATA in 2006 is N_A = 6.02214179×1023 ± 0.00000030×1023. In 2011 the measurement was refined to 6.02214078×1023 ± 0.00000018×1023.