Moles and Molecules - the Concept
When dealing with elements and atoms, things get pretty small so they become pretty confusing (usually). So let's go big and understand the concept first. Then we'll go back to the details - to the real deal. It's hard to learn a definition and understand what both mean - but it should be way easier of we use an analogy.
(These terms are actually quite chemistry-specific but we'll try to explain it using their real-life counterparts.)
If Moles and Molecules were applied to real-life examples, then it would look something like this:
The first one is a chocolate bar.
Mole would be equivalent to how many bars of chocolate there are. Molecules would be how many squares are there in the chocolate itself - in this one chocolate bar, there are 24 squares. Molar Mass would be how heavy one chocolate bar is in grams, and Total Mass would be how heavy all the quantities mentioned weigh ("weigh" used loosely here) : if Grandpa buys 6 bars, the total mass would be 6 times the mass of one chocolate are, or 6*Molar Mass. Here's another analogy:
Rubik's Cube:
Moles: How many Cubes are there? Molecules: How many little blocks are there? In one cube there are 27 (actually there is no block at the centre of the cube, only a mechanism that allows the layers to spin, but let's assume there are 9 blocks per layer and there are 3 layers.) Molar Mass: How much does one cube weigh? Mass: How much do all cubes weigh in total?
Before we move on: These analogies are there to help you understand the concept behind Moles and Molecules. In reality, 1 mole has 6.02*10^23 molecules - for more check this article out.
Concept Check! Just simple multiplication and division here:
1) How many blocks are there when there are 6 Rubik's Cubes? 2) How many Rubik's Cubes are there if I have 729 blocks?
Answer: 1) 6*27= 162 blocks 2) 729/27=27 blocks If you got those right, you're ready to move on! Moles: the real deal.
