Mole Carnival

Dimensional Analysis with Moles, Particles, Volume, and Mass

Lesson Plan

Guiding Question: H
​ ow many atoms are in a gold ring, a grain of sand, or the human body?

Overview: ​Students use dimensional analysis to practice converting between mass, volume, moles and number of particles
of different objects found at a carnival. When a student clicks on an object at the carnival, they are given an interactive
problem in which they must determine the starting value and units and drag and drop conversion factors to convert to the
correct final units. A mole map is provided to help guide students. As they progress through the simulation, the questions
become more challenging. Hints are available to help the students along the way.

Learning Goals:

● Convert between mass, volume, moles, and the number of particles of a substance using dimensional analysis.
● Use molar mass as a conversion factor in dimensional analysis problems.
● Apply Avogadro’s law to convert between volume and moles or number of particles of a substance at STP.

Key Concepts: A
​ vogadro's Number, Conversions Between Moles and Atoms, Molar Mass, Conversions between Moles and
Mass, Conversions between Mass and Number of Particles, Mole Road Map, Dimensional Analysis

Link to Simulation: ​https://interactives.ck12.org/simulations/chemistry/mole-carnival/app/index.html

Teacher Guide | Page 1

 Background Video
Have you ever wondered how many atoms there are in your body, an egg, or a piece of pencil lead? Well atoms are really,
really small so you are probably guessing a lot, but just how many is a lot? In one piece of pencil lead there are 2.056×10​21
carbon atoms or 2,056,000,000,000,000,000,000 atoms. That is a lot of zeros!

Since even the smallest objects contain a lot of atoms or molecules, we count atoms and molecules using a counting unit
called the mole. The mole is a word that stands for a number. Just like dozen is a word that stands for 12, the mole means
6.022×10​23​. If you have a dozen eggs, that means you have 12 eggs. If you have a mole of eggs, that means you have
602,200,000,000,000,000,000,000 eggs or 6.022×10​23​ eggs. Woah, that is a lot of eggs! One mole of chicken eggs would
cover the entire earth 14 miles deep!

So I told you there were 2.056×1021 carbon atoms in a piece of lead, but how did I figure this out? Since atoms are too small
to count, scientists measure mass or volume of atoms. They use a technique called d ​ imensional analysis​ where they use
conversion factors to switch between units while still describing the same value. For example, if the pencil lead has a mass
of 0.04100 grams, you can calculate the number of carbon atoms in the pencil lead using conversion factors.

The first conversion factor we need is the mass of 1 mole of carbon. To find the molar mass of carbon, we look at the
periodic table to find its average atomic mass. Since the molar mass is the same as the average atomic mass, 1 mole of
carbon = 12.01 grams carbon.

The starting value is 0.04100 g carbon.

To switch from grams of carbon to moles of carbon, we multiply grams of carbon by a conversion factor.

When the bottom units are the same as the starting units they cancel out, leaving the new unit, moles.

Since we know 1 mole is always 6.022×10​23​ atoms, we can now calculate the atoms of carbon in the pencil lead by
multiplying it with another conversion factor that switches it from moles to atoms.

The second conversion factor cancels out the mole units and makes the final unit atoms.

Can you use conversion factors to calculate the number of atoms or molecules in the different objects that you find at the
carnival?

Teacher Guide | Page 2

 Tips & Tricks for Mole Carnival

How to use the mole carnival simulation.

1. Select an object by clicking on the teal hotspot.

2. Add starting value and units. Then drag and drop conversion factors to solve the problem. If you need help, click the
hint button.

3. If needed, you can remove the conversion factor or flip it.

Teacher Guide | Page 3

Additional Tools to Help Students
● Hints provide students help wherever they are.

● The mole map is responsive and helps the student see a visual path.

Teacher Guide | Page 4

 Real-World Connections

How big is the Milky Way?

The galaxy we live in is called the Milky Way. At its widest point it is
about 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 km wide. The size of the Milky Way
is often described using lightyears. One lightyear is the distance light
will travel in one year. That works out to be 9.46×10​12​ kilometers. The
width of the Milky Way is approximately 100,000 lightyears.
Astronomers often use a different unit called parsec which is equal
to 3.26 lightyears. When parsec is used for really large distances, like
the size of the Milky Way, a prefix put in front of it - like kiloparsecs
(kpc), which are equal to 1000 parsecs - or Megaparsecs (Mpc),
equal to a million parsecs. So chances are if you asked an
astronomer the size of the Milky Way, they would say the Milky Way
is about 30 kiloparsecs (kpc) wide.

How does a paper manufacturer count sheets of paper?

When you buy paper in bulk, it usually comes in reams or packs
of 500 identical sheets of paper. That would be a lot of sheets
to count one by one. Instead paper manufacturers count paper
by weighing it, just like scientists count atoms by weight! Not
all reams of paper weigh the same amount. For example, a
ream of cardstock will weigh more than a ream of copy paper.
Different kinds of paper are measured using a measurement
called “paperweight.” The smaller the paperweight number, the
thinner the paper: 24 lb copy paper is thinner than 100 lb
cardstock paper. Since manufacturers make a very consistent
product, each sheet of 24 lb paper always weighs the same
amount. 24 lb paper is made at a paper mill in big sheets. After
the sheets are finished, the manufacturer weighs them in order
to make sure they’ve made the right number. Five hundred
sheets of 24 lb paper weighs 24 lb, so, once the scale gets up
to 24 lb, they can stop adding sheets to the stack: it’s a ream.
Can you guess what a ream of 100 lb cardstock paper would
weigh?

Teacher Guide | Page 5

 Sample Solutions

Interactive Practice Problems within the Mole Carnival Simulation

Note: Questions are adaptive, with changing values each time. The following answer key contains a sampling of many
possible question types that may appear for students.

● Sand: ​A grain of sand has approximately 1.69x10​-4 moles of SiO​2​. How much does a grain of sand weigh in grams?
Assume that sand is 100% SiO​2​.

● Boy:​ Each time the boy breathes, he exhales .02231 moles of gas at STP. How many liters of gas does he exhale?

● Basketball: If 11.74 liters of nitrogen (N​2​) at STP was pumped into the basketball, how many grams of nitrogen (N​2​)
gas were pushed into the basketball? Assume the basketball was completely empty prior to filling it with gas.

● Unicycle: The unicyclist pumps 24.8 grams of nitrogen (N​2​) gas at STP into the tire. How many liters of nitrogen gas
at STP would be in the tire?

● Jelly beans: Titanium oxide is often added to food to color it white. If a jelly bean contains approximately 7.69x10​18
formula units of TiO​2​, how many moles of TiO​2​ are in a jelly bean?

● Pure gold ring:​ A ring of pure gold has a mass of 17.3 grams. How many atoms of gold are in the ring?

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Bonus Questions: (​ challenging)
★ Egg shell: ​an egg shell is made of calcium carbonate (CaCO​3​). If the mass of an egg shell is 6.27 grams, how many
carbonate (CO​3​2-​) ions are in the egg shell?

★ 18-karat gold ring: The purity of gold is described by karats. For example, 24-karat gold is 100% gold by mass, while
18-karat gold is 75% gold by mass. If an 18-karat gold ring has a mass of 15.2 grams, how many atoms of gold are
in the ring?

★ Water bottle: ​How many moles of water are in a bottle of water that is 500.0 milliliters?

Teacher Guide | Page 7