full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Daniel Dulek: How big is a mole? (Not the animal, the other one.)

Unscramble the Blue Letters

OK, today we're going to talk about the mole. Now, I know what you're thinking: "I know what a mole is, it's a small furry creature that digs hoels in the ground and destroys gradens." And some of you might be thinking that it's a grwtoh on your aunt's face with hairs sticking out of it. Well, in this case, a mole is a concept that we use in chemistry to cunot molecules, atoms, just about anything extremely small. Have you ever wondered how many atoms there are in the universe? Or in your body? Or even in a grain of sand? Scientists have wanted to awsenr that qiousetn, but how do you count something as smlal as an atom? Well, in 1811, someone had an idea that if you had equal volumes of geass, at the same temperature and pusserre, they would contain an eauql number of particles. His name was Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro. I wonder how long it took him to sign autographs. Unfortunately for Avogadro, most scientists didn't acpcet the idea of the atom, and there was no way to prove he was right. There was no clear difference between amots and mcloeules. Most scientists loekod at Avogadro's work as preuly hypothetical, and didn't give it much thought. But it turned out he was right! By late 1860, Avogadro was proven correct, and his work helped lay the foundation for the atomic torehy. Unfortunately, Avogadro died in 1856. Now the thing is that the amount of pitrceals in even small samples is tremendous. For example, If you have a blloaon of any gas at zero degrees Celcius, and at a pressure of one atmosphere, then you have precisely six hundred and two sextillion gas particles. That is, you have six with 23 zeros after it particles of gas in the container. Or in scientific notation, 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd particles. This example is a little misleading, because gases take up a lot of space due to the high kitienc energy of the gas particles, and it leaves you thnkniig atoms are bgeigr than they really are. Instead, think of water molecules. If you pour 18.01 grams of water into a gslas, which is 18.01 milliliters, which is like three and a half teaspoons of water, you'll have 602 sextillion molecules of water. Since Lorenzo Romano - uh, never mind - Avogadro was the first one to come up with this idea, sciitnsets named the number 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd after him. It is simply known as Avogadros's number. Now, back to the mole. Not that mole. This mole. Yep, this nubemr has a second name. The mole. Chemists use the term mole to rfeer to the quantities that are at the magnitude of 602 sextillion. This is known as a mloar quantity. Atoms and molecules are so small, that chemists have bundled them into gprous called moles. Moles are hard for students to understand because they have a hard time purtnciig the size of a mole, or of 602 sxliitloen. It's just too big to wrap our brains around. rbmmeeer our 18.01 milliliters of water? Well, that's a mole of water. But how much is that? Exactly what does 602 sextillion look like? Maybe this'll help. Exchange the wtear particles for dtouns. If you had a mole of donuts, they would cover the entire earth to a depth of eight kmretlioes, which is about five miles. You really need a lot of coffee for that. If you had a mole of bleltabskas, you could create a new planet the size of the earth. If you received a mole of pennies on the day you were born and spent a million dloarls a second until the day you died at the age of 100, you would still have more than 99.99% of your money in the bank. OK. Now we sort of have an idea how large the mole is. So how do we use it? You might be surprised to know that chemists use it the same way you use pdonus to buy grapes, deli meat, or eggs. When you go to the gerorcy store, you don't go to the deli counter and ask for 43 slices of salami, you buy your salami by the pound. When you buy your eggs, you buy a dozen eggs. When we hear the word dozen, we probably think of the number 12. We also know that a pair is two, a baker's dzeon is 13, a gross is 144, and a ream of paper is - anybody? A ream is 500. Well, a mole is really the same thing. For a chemist, a mole conjures up the number 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd, not a fuzzy little animal. The only difference is that the other quantities are more familiar to us. So there you have it - the story of the mole, Avogadro, basketballs, and how to buy salami at the grocery store.

Open Cloze

OK, today we're going to talk about the mole. Now, I know what you're thinking: "I know what a mole is, it's a small furry creature that digs _____ in the ground and destroys _______." And some of you might be thinking that it's a ______ on your aunt's face with hairs sticking out of it. Well, in this case, a mole is a concept that we use in chemistry to _____ molecules, atoms, just about anything extremely small. Have you ever wondered how many atoms there are in the universe? Or in your body? Or even in a grain of sand? Scientists have wanted to ______ that ________, but how do you count something as _____ as an atom? Well, in 1811, someone had an idea that if you had equal volumes of _____, at the same temperature and ________, they would contain an _____ number of particles. His name was Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro. I wonder how long it took him to sign autographs. Unfortunately for Avogadro, most scientists didn't ______ the idea of the atom, and there was no way to prove he was right. There was no clear difference between _____ and _________. Most scientists ______ at Avogadro's work as ______ hypothetical, and didn't give it much thought. But it turned out he was right! By late 1860, Avogadro was proven correct, and his work helped lay the foundation for the atomic ______. Unfortunately, Avogadro died in 1856. Now the thing is that the amount of _________ in even small samples is tremendous. For example, If you have a _______ of any gas at zero degrees Celcius, and at a pressure of one atmosphere, then you have precisely six hundred and two sextillion gas particles. That is, you have six with 23 zeros after it particles of gas in the container. Or in scientific notation, 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd particles. This example is a little misleading, because gases take up a lot of space due to the high _______ energy of the gas particles, and it leaves you ________ atoms are ______ than they really are. Instead, think of water molecules. If you pour 18.01 grams of water into a _____, which is 18.01 milliliters, which is like three and a half teaspoons of water, you'll have 602 sextillion molecules of water. Since Lorenzo Romano - uh, never mind - Avogadro was the first one to come up with this idea, __________ named the number 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd after him. It is simply known as Avogadros's number. Now, back to the mole. Not that mole. This mole. Yep, this ______ has a second name. The mole. Chemists use the term mole to _____ to the quantities that are at the magnitude of 602 sextillion. This is known as a _____ quantity. Atoms and molecules are so small, that chemists have bundled them into ______ called moles. Moles are hard for students to understand because they have a hard time _________ the size of a mole, or of 602 __________. It's just too big to wrap our brains around. ________ our 18.01 milliliters of water? Well, that's a mole of water. But how much is that? Exactly what does 602 sextillion look like? Maybe this'll help. Exchange the _____ particles for ______. If you had a mole of donuts, they would cover the entire earth to a depth of eight __________, which is about five miles. You really need a lot of coffee for that. If you had a mole of ___________, you could create a new planet the size of the earth. If you received a mole of pennies on the day you were born and spent a million _______ a second until the day you died at the age of 100, you would still have more than 99.99% of your money in the bank. OK. Now we sort of have an idea how large the mole is. So how do we use it? You might be surprised to know that chemists use it the same way you use ______ to buy grapes, deli meat, or eggs. When you go to the _______ store, you don't go to the deli counter and ask for 43 slices of salami, you buy your salami by the pound. When you buy your eggs, you buy a dozen eggs. When we hear the word dozen, we probably think of the number 12. We also know that a pair is two, a baker's _____ is 13, a gross is 144, and a ream of paper is - anybody? A ream is 500. Well, a mole is really the same thing. For a chemist, a mole conjures up the number 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd, not a fuzzy little animal. The only difference is that the other quantities are more familiar to us. So there you have it - the story of the mole, Avogadro, basketballs, and how to buy salami at the grocery store.

Solution

  1. donuts
  2. small
  3. question
  4. basketballs
  5. remember
  6. groups
  7. dollars
  8. molar
  9. looked
  10. pounds
  11. answer
  12. kilometers
  13. picturing
  14. thinking
  15. gardens
  16. atoms
  17. sextillion
  18. count
  19. glass
  20. particles
  21. accept
  22. purely
  23. scientists
  24. dozen
  25. theory
  26. holes
  27. growth
  28. bigger
  29. water
  30. pressure
  31. gases
  32. number
  33. kinetic
  34. balloon
  35. equal
  36. molecules
  37. grocery
  38. refer

Original Text

OK, today we're going to talk about the mole. Now, I know what you're thinking: "I know what a mole is, it's a small furry creature that digs holes in the ground and destroys gardens." And some of you might be thinking that it's a growth on your aunt's face with hairs sticking out of it. Well, in this case, a mole is a concept that we use in chemistry to count molecules, atoms, just about anything extremely small. Have you ever wondered how many atoms there are in the universe? Or in your body? Or even in a grain of sand? Scientists have wanted to answer that question, but how do you count something as small as an atom? Well, in 1811, someone had an idea that if you had equal volumes of gases, at the same temperature and pressure, they would contain an equal number of particles. His name was Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro. I wonder how long it took him to sign autographs. Unfortunately for Avogadro, most scientists didn't accept the idea of the atom, and there was no way to prove he was right. There was no clear difference between atoms and molecules. Most scientists looked at Avogadro's work as purely hypothetical, and didn't give it much thought. But it turned out he was right! By late 1860, Avogadro was proven correct, and his work helped lay the foundation for the atomic theory. Unfortunately, Avogadro died in 1856. Now the thing is that the amount of particles in even small samples is tremendous. For example, If you have a balloon of any gas at zero degrees Celcius, and at a pressure of one atmosphere, then you have precisely six hundred and two sextillion gas particles. That is, you have six with 23 zeros after it particles of gas in the container. Or in scientific notation, 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd particles. This example is a little misleading, because gases take up a lot of space due to the high kinetic energy of the gas particles, and it leaves you thinking atoms are bigger than they really are. Instead, think of water molecules. If you pour 18.01 grams of water into a glass, which is 18.01 milliliters, which is like three and a half teaspoons of water, you'll have 602 sextillion molecules of water. Since Lorenzo Romano - uh, never mind - Avogadro was the first one to come up with this idea, scientists named the number 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd after him. It is simply known as Avogadros's number. Now, back to the mole. Not that mole. This mole. Yep, this number has a second name. The mole. Chemists use the term mole to refer to the quantities that are at the magnitude of 602 sextillion. This is known as a molar quantity. Atoms and molecules are so small, that chemists have bundled them into groups called moles. Moles are hard for students to understand because they have a hard time picturing the size of a mole, or of 602 sextillion. It's just too big to wrap our brains around. Remember our 18.01 milliliters of water? Well, that's a mole of water. But how much is that? Exactly what does 602 sextillion look like? Maybe this'll help. Exchange the water particles for donuts. If you had a mole of donuts, they would cover the entire earth to a depth of eight kilometers, which is about five miles. You really need a lot of coffee for that. If you had a mole of basketballs, you could create a new planet the size of the earth. If you received a mole of pennies on the day you were born and spent a million dollars a second until the day you died at the age of 100, you would still have more than 99.99% of your money in the bank. OK. Now we sort of have an idea how large the mole is. So how do we use it? You might be surprised to know that chemists use it the same way you use pounds to buy grapes, deli meat, or eggs. When you go to the grocery store, you don't go to the deli counter and ask for 43 slices of salami, you buy your salami by the pound. When you buy your eggs, you buy a dozen eggs. When we hear the word dozen, we probably think of the number 12. We also know that a pair is two, a baker's dozen is 13, a gross is 144, and a ream of paper is - anybody? A ream is 500. Well, a mole is really the same thing. For a chemist, a mole conjures up the number 6.02 times 10 to the 23rd, not a fuzzy little animal. The only difference is that the other quantities are more familiar to us. So there you have it - the story of the mole, Avogadro, basketballs, and how to buy salami at the grocery store.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
lorenzo romano 2

Important Words

  1. accept
  2. age
  3. amedeo
  4. amount
  5. animal
  6. answer
  7. atmosphere
  8. atom
  9. atomic
  10. atoms
  11. autographs
  12. avogadro
  13. balloon
  14. bank
  15. basketballs
  16. big
  17. bigger
  18. body
  19. born
  20. brains
  21. bundled
  22. buy
  23. called
  24. carlo
  25. case
  26. celcius
  27. chemist
  28. chemistry
  29. chemists
  30. clear
  31. coffee
  32. concept
  33. conjures
  34. container
  35. correct
  36. count
  37. counter
  38. cover
  39. create
  40. creature
  41. day
  42. degrees
  43. deli
  44. depth
  45. destroys
  46. died
  47. difference
  48. digs
  49. dollars
  50. donuts
  51. dozen
  52. due
  53. earth
  54. eggs
  55. energy
  56. entire
  57. equal
  58. exchange
  59. extremely
  60. face
  61. familiar
  62. foundation
  63. furry
  64. fuzzy
  65. gardens
  66. gas
  67. gases
  68. give
  69. glass
  70. grain
  71. grams
  72. grapes
  73. grocery
  74. gross
  75. ground
  76. groups
  77. growth
  78. hairs
  79. hard
  80. hear
  81. helped
  82. high
  83. holes
  84. hypothetical
  85. idea
  86. kilometers
  87. kinetic
  88. large
  89. late
  90. lay
  91. leaves
  92. long
  93. looked
  94. lorenzo
  95. lot
  96. magnitude
  97. meat
  98. miles
  99. milliliters
  100. million
  101. mind
  102. misleading
  103. molar
  104. mole
  105. molecules
  106. moles
  107. money
  108. named
  109. notation
  110. number
  111. pair
  112. paper
  113. particles
  114. pennies
  115. picturing
  116. planet
  117. pound
  118. pounds
  119. pour
  120. precisely
  121. pressure
  122. prove
  123. proven
  124. purely
  125. quantities
  126. quantity
  127. question
  128. ream
  129. received
  130. refer
  131. remember
  132. romano
  133. salami
  134. samples
  135. sand
  136. scientific
  137. scientists
  138. sextillion
  139. sign
  140. simply
  141. size
  142. slices
  143. small
  144. sort
  145. space
  146. spent
  147. sticking
  148. store
  149. story
  150. students
  151. surprised
  152. talk
  153. teaspoons
  154. temperature
  155. term
  156. theory
  157. thinking
  158. thought
  159. time
  160. times
  161. today
  162. tremendous
  163. turned
  164. uh
  165. understand
  166. universe
  167. volumes
  168. wanted
  169. water
  170. wondered
  171. word
  172. work
  173. wrap
  174. yep
  175. zeros