Mole Day Project

Mole Day = October 23rd

To commemorate Mole Day, honoring the central concept of chemistry, we will be holding a contest. The intent is to have fun and grow in our understanding of the most interesting number in the scientific world. There are whole parts of the Internet devoted to this, including one site dedicated to Mole Day [LINK]. In addition, many thoughtful and smart people have written about the meaning and power of this number [LINK] [LINK] [LINK].

Some fun Mole Day facts

• If you started with a mole of pennies and spent $1,000,000 (1 million dollars) every second for 100 years, you would still have more than 99.99% of what you started with.
• There are approximately two moles of stars in the universe.
• A mole of salt crystals would cover the Earth 17 cm deep, or stacked in a cube, would 27 miles in every dimension.
• A sphere made up of a mole of popcorn seeds would have a radius of 193 miles.
• If the Earth was made up of a mole of lego bricks, each brick would be 12 cm wide.
• A mole of donuts would cover the Earth to a depth of 5 miles; a mole of basketballs would be the same size as our planet.
• One mole of paper would make a stack that would reach to the moon more than 80 billion times
• A one liter bottle of water contains 55.5 moles of water.
• One mole of inches would be 1,616,434 light years, or across our galaxy and back 8 times
• One mole of seconds is 19 quadrillion years, 4,240,666 times the age of the earth, or 954,150 times the age of the universe itself
• One mole of cents could repay the United States National Debt 86 million times

Project Rules

• The outcome of the project is a physical stuffed mole animal that uses a clever or funny pun to convey its meaning.
• The Internets are full of ides for having fun with this [LINK].
• You can use the mole pattern or create your own [LINK]
• OMG – so much help on the Tubes! [VIDEO] [INSTRUCTIONS]
• You may work with a partner: one mole must be created per partner as a part of the final project
• No actual food may be used in any part of the project
• The project can be no larger than 40 cm x 40 cm x 40 cm
• The mole must be 3-Dimensional
• The project cannot be degrading or insulting or profane in any way. Violating this will result in zero credit.

Dates

• All Moles are due Tuesday, October 21st, regardless of class meeting period
• The Mole competition will take place in class on 10/22 and 10/23
• Every visitor will receive a voting ballot – top moles will be given a prize

Grading Rubric

• Follows Rules: On-Time, Size, 3D, no Food, Appropriate
• Creativity: Have some fun with this