Let us calculate the molecular weight of some common compounds. For example, in one mole of a chemical compound there are 6.022 x 1023 molecules. One mole of 'something' contains 6.022 x 1023 entities. A mole is the unit that measures the amount of a substance. One thousand mers connected together would add up to a weight of 28,000 grams/mole and would have 6,000 atoms.Ī mole is the standard method in chemistry for communicating how much of a substance is present. We combine (react) many mers of ethylene together to form a polyethylene chain. The atomic weight of carbon is 12 and that of hydrogen is 1, so one mer of ethylene has a weight of 2(12) + 4(1) = 28.
It has a total of 6 atoms: 2 carbon (C) atoms and 4 hydrogen (H) atoms. The chemical formula for an ethylene monomer is -(CH2-CH2).In order to calculate the molecular weight of one water molecule, we add the contributions from each atom that is, 2(1) + 1(16) = 18 grams/mole. Using the periodic table of the elements to find atomic weights, we find that hydrogen has an atomic weight of 1, and oxygen's is 16. The chemical formula for water is H2O, which means this molecule has 3 atoms: 2 of hydrogen (H) and 1 oxygen (O) atom.
