The Chemist's Holiday: Celebrate National Mole Day, October 23

Mole Day is celebrated annually every October 23 from 6:02 am to 6:02 pm as a way to commemorate Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 10^23). When I was in high school, my classmates and I happily mispronounced this as "Avocado's Number." This is a basic unit of measure in chemistry and is simply called a "mole." (Chemistry students will recognize this in such statements as "one mole of neon weighs 20 grams", etc.) I know my chemistry class in the 1980s would have got a real kick out of celebrating Mole Day, but I was born too early.

Today, I'm happy to discover that Avogadro's Number not only has it's own special day, but since 1991 it now has its own foundation! The foundation's main purpose is to get as many people as possibly excited and enthusiastic about chemistry. You can learn more about the National Mole Day Foundation through their website which includes such fun links as the Mole Day theme for 2009 ("Molar Express", complete with a charming illustrations of two moles on a train and a theme song encouraging students to stick with chemistry and use moles for success) and links to mole jokes. At present as many as 3000 people have paid to join the National Mole Day Foundation and the foundation has even moved on to offer three possible awards with prices ranging from $250-$750 in value: the George Hague Memorial Travel Award, Mole of the Year Award and the Maury Award. These first and last awards are given to teachers in chemistry or science. (Please visit the National Mole Day Foundation website for the specifics of these awards.)

One link on the website which teachers may find particular fun and helpful is the list of possible Mole Day projects. I particularly like the mole costume party idea ("who can make the best mole costume?"), the scavenger hunt with the chemistry theme (Each item must be described using chemistry terms/formulas) and exchanging Mole Day greeting cards with other chemistry classes. (If you are a more traditional kind of teacher and want there to be some seriousness to the class, there is a link which offers a brief history of Amadeo Avogadro, the Italian scientist who started it all.)

One can't finish an article on Mole Day without including at least a few Mole Day Jokes:

Q: What kind of fruit did Avogardo eat in the summer?
A: Watermolens

Q: What line from Shakespeare do high school moles have to memorize?
A: "To mole or not to mole, that is the question."

Q: How much does Avogadro exaggerate?
A: He makes mountains out of mole hills

Blessings!

Source
National Mole Day Foundation Website