edited by:

I I-

and analogief
RON DELORENZO
Middle Georgia College
Cochran, Georgia 31014

How To Visualize Avogadro's Number Total surface:

Henk van Lubeck
Scholengemeenschap Noord
Amstordim, The Netherlands1
which means (Earth surface = 5 X 108 h 2 ) :
Poskozim and others described in this Journal2 some
km'
analogies for Avogadro's Number3. They invited the readers 6 X 10'' -
mol Earths
to suggest other approaches of this problem. With some =1x103-
delay, I accept their invitation. km2 mol
It is very difficult to visualize small and large numbers. 5 x I@--
Earth
However, one very large number is frequently used in chem-
istry: Avogadro's number N ( N = 6 x I@), the of If about 1000 Earths would he completely ompied by ants, one
would have a mole of anta. Let us try once more!
particles in a mole. Let us try to visualize N.
Example 1: A Mole of Dollars
Suppose Mr. Mole has a mole of dollars in the hank. The bank
offersan interest of 5%.If Mr. Mole divides the interest received in Example 3: A Mole of Gralns of Sand
one second equally among all the people on the earth (5 billion), One can estimate the mass of a grain of sand as 8 x g/grah4
every individual will get about $2M1,000! The mass of s mole of grains:
Yearly interest:
(6 X low m) (8 X 2) 5 = 5 X 1019 = 5 X 10" kg
(A) loz3 (6 x dollars) = 3 X lo2' doUm
ma1
Compared to the maas of the Earth, a mole of grains is quite posd-
mol

ble, hut is it a useful visualization? Last attempt: What about the

Number of seconds in a year: uolume of this mole of grains?
8
(365~)(24&)(~~)(60&)=3X lo7-Yr 5 x lo"&
cm3
m01=zx1019-=2x~04- km3
molar volume =
Amount of interest Mr. Mole receives:
"."
9 n L mol mol
3 X 10'' dollars - dollars cm3
3x10"s 8 Two interpretations of thisvolume are
Equal sharing means: (1) It means a cube with sides of 82 X 10' km3 = 3 X 10' km
,,dollars
1x10 -
dollars
-
(2) Thesurfaceof theSahara Deaert'heing 8 X lo6km2,we would
have w dig (2 X 10' km3)/(8X lo6km') = 2 X lo-? km = 2 m
S
5 X 10' individuals
=2xio5.
mdlndual
.S uff the surface of the entire Sahara Desert in order to get a
mole of grains of sand!
Amazing! But have we now visualized N properly? So, another Conclusion
attempt.
There is no doubt about the importance of the concept of
Example 2: A Mole of Ants the mole concerning molecules, ions, electrons, etc. I n the
Can one visualize a mole of ants (red ant, Formica rufa)? Let us macroscopic world, an attempt to visualize N usually fails.
consider the mass of a mole of ants. We estimate an average mass at We have shown a mole of grains of sand can be visualized,
0.5 glant. The mass of a male of ants will be especially its volume.

(6Xlo2")( mol 0.05 -

ant kg
mol = 3 X 10'' -
g ) -- 3 X lozzL mol

Compared with a reasonable standard such as the mass of the Earth

' Address correspondence to: Dag Hammarskjoldlaan 17,1902 DT
Castricum, The Netherlands.
(6 X 10a4kg), the existence of a mole of anta lookg unlikely. But it is Poskozim, P. S.; Wazoick, J. W.; Tiempetpaisal, P.; Poskozim, J.
more than unlikely, it is impossible! Let us assume these ants live in A,; J. Chem. Educ. 1986, 63,125-126.
anthills of 1million anta each and every hill having a surface of 1m2. Because of Its dimension of mol-', the term Avogadro's constant
Thus: actually is preferable to Avogadro's number.
'Assuming cubes of quartz (density = 2.5 glcm3)with sldes of 0.3
6x loz3 mm (= 3 X cm), the mass of a grain will be (3 X (2.5
mol =GxlO,,hills
- glcm3) = (3 X 10W cm3)(2.5 glcm3) = 8 X g.
1x 108-ants mol Quite comparable to the surface of the entire United States (9 X
hill 10' km2).

762 Journal of Chemical Education