Avogadro's Number
Related Category: Chemistry: General
ävōgä´drō [for Amedeo
Avogadro], number of particles contained in one
mole of any substance; it is equal to 602,252,000,000,000,000,000,000, or in scientific notation, 6.02252×10
23. For example, 12.011 grams of carbon (one mole of carbon) contains 6.02252×10
23 carbon atoms, and 180.16 grams of glucose, C
6H
12O
6, contains 6.02252×10
23 molecules of glucose. Avogadro's number is determined by calculating the spacing of the atoms in a crystalline solid through X-ray methods and combining this data with the measured volume of one mole of the solid to obtain the number of molecules per molar volume.
