By MaryHelen Swanson
Like the underground world of the mole, the sky was dark Friday morning as dozens of students flocked to North Branch High School to celebrate Mole Day.

Having nothing to do with the tiny creature that causes angst for homeowners because it creates tunnels underneath the lawn, the interestingly named day, none-the-less, draws the rodent into the hoopla as the celebration unfolds.

Mole Day is celebrated annually on Oct. 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m., Mole Day commemorates Avogadro’s Number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry.

Mole Day was created as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Schools throughout the United States and around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and/or moles.

At NBAHS, chemistry teacher Derrick Rink made it worthwhile for the students to rise from warm beds even earlier than normal and come to the auditorium for Mole Day activities.

This was the fourth year the unique day was celebrated and Rink said the interest and participation is growing each year.

At 6:30 a.m. Friday, the students witnessed chemistry in action as the booms and burst and pops and colored clouds of smoke filled the room.

The finale was held outdoors by the loading docks where the booms and plumes of bright light were even bigger.

Rink said there would be activities going on in his chemistry classroom all day in connection with Mole Day.

He believes the hands-on experiments the students witnessed Friday morning will be of value  throughout the year.

And, besides, they all had a little fun in doing them.

So, then, if the mole in question is not the furry little critter that lives underground, what is it?

Explanation: For a given molecule, one mole is a mass (in grams) whose number is equal to the atomic mass of the molecule. For example, the water molecule has an atomic mass of 18, therefore one mole of water weighs 18 grams.

An atom of neon has an atomic mass of 20, therefore one mole of neon weighs 20 grams. In general, one mole of any substance contains Avogadro’s Number of molecules or atoms of that substance. This relationship was first discovered by Amedeo Avogadro (1776-1858) and he received credit for this after his death.

To help you remember this information, you could memorize the chorus of a song written expressly for Mole Day:

Chorus:

A mole is a unit, or have you heard, containing six times ten to the twenty-third,

That’s a six with twenty-three zeros at the end, much too big a number to comprehend.

Happy Mole Day!

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