General Chemistry

Mole Day – What is a mole in chemistry?

Infographic on the mole. One mole is the amount of substance that contains exactly 6.022 x 10^23 atoms, molecules or ions. This number is also known as Avogadro's number. Using moles makes it easier to talk about amounts of substances involved in reactions by relating the mass of a substance to its atomic or molecular mass. Amount of substance (moles) = mass (grams) divided by the mass of 1 mole (grams per mole). One mole contains a different mass for different substances.
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Today, 23rd October is Mole Day – which might put you in mind of small, furry, burrowing animals. However, they don’t even seem to have a commemorative day of any kind; we’re actually talking about the mole in chemistry, a concept that makes it easier to talk about the amounts of substances involved in chemical reactions. This is a fundamental concept and one that all chemists utilise.

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Periodic Table - Orbitals Dec 2016

The Compound Interest Periodic Table of Data

Periodic Table - Orbitals Dec 2016
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Today’s graphic is one that I’ve been working on over the past couple of weeks. Every chemistry classroom has a Periodic Table, but it’s often a drab affair; considering it’s one of the cornerstones of chemistry, I thought I’d attempt to produce a more dynamic looking version. The result is the above table – each element is shown within a circle that contains a variety of data pertaining to that element.

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Periodicity - Periodic Table Trends

Periodicity: Trends in the Periodic Table

Periodicity - Periodic Table Trends
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This graphic looks at several properties of elements in the Periodic Table. These properties show trends, also referred to as ‘periodicity’, as you progress along a period. The emphasis of this graphic is on giving a general impression of each of the trends; although a rough scale is given to the right of each diagram, this is intended to be for approximate reference, rather than allowing the diagrams to be used as precise tools for determining properties of specific elements. Each diagram is also accompanied by a brief explanation of the trends, and a simple explanation of basic anomalies.

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