I am taking a combined bio+A&P course and the whole molecules and atoms mess is confusing, but I’m getting it. But I can’t wrap my head around Avogadro’s number. Please help?
Edit: Thank you everyone! This was a huge help!!
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Avogadro’s number is just the definition of a mole. Avogadro’s number is 6.022 x 10^23 things in one mole. You can have a mole of anything. If you have a mole of bowling balls, you have 6.022 x 10^23 bowling balls. If you have a mole of pancakes, you have 6.022 x 10^23 pancakes.
Avogadro’s number is helpful in chemistry and biology because it allows for standardization based on a number of atoms or molecules. Chemistry and biology don’t really care about the weight or mass of something, it cares about the number of things you have (the amount). In the equation 2H2 + O2 –> 2H2O, there is nothing in the equation about mass. What matters is that two H2 molecules reacts with one O2 molecule to make two H2O molecules. In other words, two moles of H2 reacts with one mole of O2 to create 2 moles of H2O.
However, we can’t easily measure a mole of something. You can’t put a bunch of hydrogen under a microscope and count the number of molecules you have. What we *can* measure is mass (or weight). We can then use molar mass (the mass of one mole of something) to convert between mass and amount.
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