Posted: Mar 18, 2010 1:01 pm
sam_j wrote:rainbow wrote:scoobie wrote:1 litre of solution of 1 mmol l-1 will contain 6.023 × 10^20 reacting particles of interest, which means that 1 m3 of solution will contain 6.023 × 10^26 particles,
How do you get from 10^20 to 10^26? Shouldn't it be 10^23?
This is done by a combination of spurious probability calculations and dodgy assumptions.
I don't think there's anything too controversial or problematic about Avagadro's constant. It works for the rest of chemistry and you'd have thought by now someone would have noticed if it wasn't working given how much it is used particularly by industry. Calculating the number of water molecules in a cubic metre or the number of particles of solute in that same cubic metre is neither difficult nor controversial. Its just basic chemistry.
I wasn't talking about Avagadro's constant.
That's fine, it's the calculation and the assumptions that are somewhat 'whiffy'.