The History of the Mole The mole’s beginning is traced back to the most basic units of matter, atoms. Since atoms are extremely small, scientists have perplexed a great deal over finding a way to measure atomic mass. They struggled to find a universal container that had the capability to mass atoms. Measuring the mass of one atom on a balance in grams is not practical, because the result in grams is an amount …showed first 75 words of 443 total…

…showed last 75 words of 443 total…Likewise, one mole of the element oxygen, which has an atomic mass of 16u, would consist of the same number of atoms and have a mass of 16g. This makes the mass of oxygen greater than the mass of carbon. The mole of any element will always have 6.02 x 10²³ atoms. Moles can be used in conversions with molecules, ions, atoms, formula units, and grams. Clearly, the mole is a highly valuable tool to the chemist.