Mole Day History. Mole Day commemorates the discovery of the scientific constant, Avogadro's Number, 6.02 x 10 23. The number represents the number of elementary units in ‘one mole’ of any substance. Italian chemist Amedeo Avogadro is credited with the discovery of this constant that bears his name. Oct 23 Fun Holiday – Mole Day Mole Day is an unofficial holiday celebrated by chemists and chemistry students on October 23 in honor of the mole, a measuring unit in Chemistry.
Written by: Science Made Fun! on October 23, 2013 @ 4:49 pm
Today, October 23 (or 10/23, as it’s written the American way), from 6:02 am to 6:02 pm, is Mole Day. No, it’s not a day for freckles, spies, Mexican sauce, or cute little burrowing mammals. Rather it’s the day to celebrate the chemical unit the “mole.”
What is a mole, you ask, having forgotten high school chemistry. A mole of something is 6.02 x 10^23 of it (kind of like a dozen of eggs is 12 eggs, a mole of eggs is 602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 eggs*.)
*okay, technically, it’s 602,214,129,270,000,000,000,000 eggs (give or take a few quintillion – scientists can’t agree on the exact number).
So, with that out of the way, here are 5 fun facts about the mole and Mole Day:
1. The mole is attributed to 18th century Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro, whose full name is Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro di Queregna e di Cerreto. Man, that’s a long name, but it somehow fits the long number that now bears his name (6.02 x 10^23 is called Avogadro’s Constant). His parents called him Amedeo Carlo Avogadro.
We won’t get into the technical aspects, but in 1811 Avogadro proposed a law (now known as Avogadro’s Law) stating that equal volume of all gasses, at the same temperature and pressure, have the same number of molecules.
As with many scientific accomplishments of that age, Avogadro’s findings were promptly ignored. It took about a hundred years for the scientific community to get around to appreciating what he’s done. In 1909, French chemist and Nobel laureate Jean Baptiste Perrin proposed that quantity of molecules be called “Avogadro’s Constant.”
2. Mole Day was proposed in an article in The Science Teacher in early 1980s. Inspired by the article, Maurice Oehler, a chemistry teacher (now retired) in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, created the National Mole Day Foundation in 1991.
3. Did you know that the Mole Day has annual themes? Here they are:
| 1991 | The Mole The Merrier |
| 1992 | Go For The Mole |
| 1993 | Mole Out The Barrel |
| 1994 | An Ace in The Mole |
| 1995 | Moledi Gras |
| 1996 | Molemorial Day |
| 1997 | We Dig Chemistry |
| 1998 | Ride the Molercoaster |
| 1999 | It’s A MOLE World |
| 2000 | Celebrate the Molennium |
| 2001 | Molar Odyssey |
| 2002 | Molar Reflections |
| 2003 | Rock ‘n Mole |
| 2004 | Pi a la MOLE |
| 2005 | Moles-Go-Round |
| 2006 | Mole Madness |
| 2007 | Secret Agent Double Mole Seven in Moles are Forever |
| 2008 | Remember the Alamole |
| 2009 | Molar Express |
| 2010 | Moles of the Round Table |
| 2011 | Molar Eclipse |
| 2012 | Animole Kingdom |
4. To help you celebrate, here’s the Molemorial Day song by Michael Offutt (that’s the theme of the Mole Day in 1996, when Offutt recorded the song). Actually Offutt created a whole album, titled “Molennium,” filled with songs about the mole.
5. As you can probably guess, a mole (6.02 x 10^23) is a VERY large number. But, what does a mole of moles look like? What if we release a mole of moles onto our planet? xkcd explains:
An eastern mole (Scalopus aquaticus) weighs about 75 grams, which means a mole of moles weighs (6.022×10^23)×75g≈4.52×10^22kg.
That’s a little over half the mass of our moon.
Mammals are largely water. A kilogram of water takes up a liter of volume, so if the moles weigh 4.52×10^22 kilograms, they take up about 4.52×10^22 liters of volume. You might notice that we’re ignoring the pockets of space between the moles. In a moment, you’ll see why.
The cube root of 4.52×10^22 liters is 3,562 kilometers, which means we’re talking about a sphere with a radius of 2,210 kilometers, or a cube 2,213 miles on each edge. (That’s a neat coincidence I’ve never noticed before—a cubic mile happens to be almost exactly 4/3pi cubic kilometers, so a sphere with a radius of X kilometers has the same volume as a cube that’s X miles on each side.)
If these moles were released onto the Earth’s surface, they’d fill it up to 80 kilometers deep—just about to the (former) edge of space:
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Mole Short Jokes
Q: Why is it bad to tell mole jokes?
A: It's mole-itically incorrect
Q: What is a mole's favorite movie?
A: The Green Mole
Q: What did Avogadro get when he mixed ice cream, chocolate syrup, and milk together?
A: A chocolate Moledt
Q: What did Avogadro teach his students in math class?
A: Moletiplication
Q: What kind of fruit did Avogadro eat in the summer?
A: Watermolens
Q: How many guacs are in a bowl of guacamole?
A: Avocados number!
Q: If a mole of moles were digging a mole of holes, what would you see?
A: A mole of molasses!
Q: What does Avogadro put in his hot chocolate?
A: Marsh-mole-ows!
Q: How does Avogadro write to his friends?
A: By e-mole!
Q: Why is Avogadro so rich?
A: He's a multi-mole-ionare!
Q: Why was there only one Avogadro?
A: When they made him, they broke the Moled
Q: What kept Avogadro in bed for two months?
A: Moleonucleosis
Q: What do you get when you have a bunch of moles acting like idiots?
A: A bunch of Moleasses
Q: What line from Shakespeare do high school moles have to memorize?
A: 'To mole or not to mole, this is the question.'
Q: How do moles finance their homes?
A: With a molergage!
Q: What did Avogadro invent for his wife to use as a night cream?
A: Oil of Molay
Q: What did one mole say to the other?
A: We make great chemistry together.
Q: Why did Avogadro stop going to a chiropractor on October 24th?
A: He was only tense to the 23rd!
Q: Why is Avogadro in love with Cindy Crawford?
A: She's his favorite super-mole-dle (and she has a mole).
Q: What did the generous mole say when his friends crashed his party?
A: The mole the merrier!
Q: What is a mole's favorite television show?
A: Molerose place
Q: What is Avogadro's favorite day of the week?
A: Moleday
Q: How would you describe a stinky chemist?
A: Mole-odorous
Q: What kind of test do student moles like best?
A: Mole-tiple choice.
Q: How much does Avogadro exaggerate?
A: He makes mountains out of mole hills
Q: What element do moles love to study in chemistry?
A: Molybdenum
Q: What is Avogadro's favorite kind of music?
A: Rock 'N' Mole
Q: What did Avogadro get when he mixed ice cream, chocolate syrup, and milk together?
A: A chocolate Molted
Q: What happens when a mole bites a dog?
A: He becomes Moleicious!
Q: Avogadro loved to watch MASH. Which character did he like most?
A: Father Molecahy
Q: What was Avogadro's favorite Indian tribe?
A: The Molehawks
Q: What are mammoles?
A: Four-legged animoles!
Q: Why cant Avogadro have pets.
A: Because he will mole them.
Three Moles
There were three moles in a burrow. papa mole, mama mole, & baby mole.
Papa mole sticks his head out the entrance, & says I smell maple syrup!
Mama mole does the same thing, & says I smell honey!
Baby mole in the back, says I smell mole-asses!!!
Mole Day Dictionary
Demoleition: The destruction which moles bring about in your yard.
Dismole: being gloomy on Mole Day
Imoleble: anything that does not have to do with a mole
Mol: the symbol for mole
Mole-mole: a mole double agent
Molearchy: government in which moles are in complete control; under this government Mole Day is celebrated three times a year and chemistry is the only scientific subject taught in school
Molebile: a mole which hangs from the ceiling; also a term describing anything which can move rapidly inderground
Molect: the obsessive collection of Mole Day stuff including T-shirts, lawn decorations, pins, and endless other things
Molectomy: the study of a mole's insides
Molehill: a large hill made of dirt in your backyard, formed from moles borrowing underground; also a term used to describe anything that's pesky
Moleism: the continual reverence of moles
Molelaberate: working together on a project which includes moles
Mole Day Activities
Moleodic: a word describing the Mole Day songs which are played over the loudspeakerMoleskito: a tiny molelike creature with wings which drinks the blood of anyone who doesn't remember when Mole Day is
Remoletly: obscurely having to do with a mole
Remolte control: a devise used by moles to watch all their favorite television shows, such as Bill Nye the Science Guy and the Discovery Channel, particularly used by lazy papa moles
Sophmole: anyone in the tenth grade who is taking Chemistry already
Thermole: an adjective describing a mole of a highly explosive substance
Mole Day Ideas
Mole Day Activities
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