Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Happy Mole Day!


What kind of science loving nerd would I be if I didn't wish you Happy Mole Day!  Too bad it's a little late.  Maybe I'll be more on top of my game next year.

On Mole Day, we celebrate Avogadro's number, which is 6.02x10^23.  Some people celebrate it at 6:02 in the morning of 10/23.

What is a mole? It's a unit consisting of 6.02x10^23 somethings (that's a lot of somethings!).

In 10th grade chemistry, we celebrated by making cute little moles (see above).  Mine was Super Mole, but just recently lost his cape after he became a toy for the 3-year old.  He saved the world 6.02x10^23 times, if I remember right.  I also made a Mole Kent who had a super awesome telephone booth where he changed to become Super Mole.  My little sister reincarnated Mole Kent to Whoopi Moleberg, who was then saved by her chemistry teacher (not sure what her mole consisted of - remind me, Julie?).

What's the whole point of Mole Day??  To remember the number!  10/23 falls relatively early in the school year, and it's a number chemistry students frequently need to use, so it works very well.  I can still state the number 15 years after celebrating my first Mole Day.  Thanks, Dr. Mr. P (my high school chem teacher)!

There's no real set way to celebrate.  We made cute moles and gave them stories.  I hear a lot about eating guacamole on Mole Day (but we're picky eaters and green paste isn't on our list of things we eat).

How do/did you celebrate Mole Day?

1 comment:

  1. Oh my goodness, I had completely forgotten about Mole until this post. Mega mommy brain! We'll have to celebrate next year!

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