Avogadro constant

The Avogadro constant, commonly denoted NA[1] or L,[2] is the

Avogadro constant
proportionality factor that relates the number of constituent particles
(usually molecules, atoms or ions) in a sample with the amount of
substance in that sample. It is an SI defining constant with an exact
value of 6.022 140 76 × 1023 reciprocal moles.[3][4] It is named
after the Italian scientist Amedeo Avogadro[5] by Stanislao
Cannizzaro, who explained this number four years after
Avogadro's death while at the Karlsruhe Congress in 1860.[6]

The numeric value of the Avogadro constant expressed in

reciprocal moles, a dimensionless number, is called the Avogadro
number. In older literature, the Avogadro number is denoted Amedeo Avogadro, the constant's
N[7][8] or N0,[9][10] which is the number of particles that are namesake
contained in one mole, exactly 6.022 140 76 × 1023 .[3] Common NA, L
symbols
The Avogadro number is the approximate number of nucleons
SI unit mol−1
(protons and neutrons) in one gram of ordinary matter. The value
of the Avogadro constant was chosen so that the mass of one mole Exact value
of a chemical compound, expressed in grams, is approximately the mole (unit) 6.022 140 76 × 1023
number of nucleons in one constituent particle of the substance. It
is numerically equal (for all practical purposes) to the average mass of one molecule (or atom) of a
1
compound in daltons (unified atomic mass units); one dalton being 12 of the mass of one carbon-12 atom.
For example, the average mass of one molecule of water is about 18.0153 daltons, and one mole of water
(N molecules) is about 18.0153 grams. Thus, the Avogadro constant NA is the proportionality factor that
relates the molar mass of a substance to the average mass of one molecule.[11]

The Avogadro constant also relates the molar volume of a substance to the average volume nominally
occupied by one of its particles, when both are expressed in the same units of volume. For example, since
the molar volume of water in ordinary conditions is about 18 mL/mol, the volume occupied by one
18
molecule of water is about 6.022 × 10−23 mL, or about 30 Å3 (cubic angstroms). For a crystalline
substance, it similarly relates its molar volume (in mol/mL), the volume of the repeating unit cell of the
crystals (in mL), to the number of molecules in that cell.

The Avogadro number (or constant) has been defined in many different ways through its long history. Its
approximate value was first determined, indirectly, by Josef Loschmidt in 1865.[12] (Avogadro's number is
closely related to the Loschmidt constant, and the two concepts are sometimes confused.) It was initially
defined by Jean Perrin as the number of atoms in 16 grams of oxygen.[5] It was later redefined in the 14th
conference of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) as the number of atoms in
12 grams of the isotope carbon-12 (12 C).[13] In each case, the mole was defined as the quantity of a
substance that contained the same number of atoms as those reference samples. In particular, when carbon-
12 was the reference, one mole of carbon-12 was exactly 12 grams of the element.
These definitions meant that the value of the Avogadro number depended on the experimentally determined
value of the mass (in grams) of one atom of those elements, and therefore it was known only to a limited
number of decimal digits. However, in its 26th Conference, the BIPM adopted a different approach:
effective 20 May 2019, it defined the Avogadro number N as the exact value 6.022 140 76 × 1023 , and
redefined the mole as the amount of a substance under consideration that contains N constituent particles of
the substance. Under the new definition, the mass of one mole of any substance (including hydrogen,
carbon-12, and oxygen-16) is N times the average mass of one of its constituent particles – a physical
quantity whose precise value has to be determined experimentally for each substance.

History

Origin of the concept

The Avogadro constant is named after the Italian scientist Amedeo

Avogadro (1776–1856), who, in 1811, first proposed that the
volume of a gas (at a given pressure and temperature) is
proportional to the number of atoms or molecules regardless of the
nature of the gas.[14]

The name Avogadro's number was coined in 1909 by the physicist

Jean Perrin, who defined it as the number of molecules in exactly
16 grams of oxygen.[5] The goal of this definition was to make the
mass of a mole of a substance, in grams, be numerically equal to the
mass of one molecule relative to the mass of the hydrogen atom;
which, because of the law of definite proportions, was the natural
unit of atomic mass, and was assumed to be 1/16 of the atomic mass
of oxygen.

Jean Perrin in 1926

First measurements

The value of Avogadro's number (not yet known by that name) was
first obtained indirectly by Josef Loschmidt in 1865, by estimating
the number of particles in a given volume of gas.[12] This value, the
number density n 0 of particles in an ideal gas, is now called the
Loschmidt constant in his honor, and is related to the Avogadro
constant, NA, by

where p 0 is the pressure, R is the gas constant, and T 0 is the

absolute temperature. Because of this work, the symbol L is
sometimes used for the Avogadro constant,[15] and, in German
literature, that name may be used for both constants, distinguished
Josef Loschmidt
only by the units of measurement.[16] (However, NA should not be
confused with the entirely different Loschmidt constant in English-
language literature.)
Perrin himself determined Avogadro's number by several different experimental methods. He was awarded
the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physics, largely for this work.[17]

The electric charge per mole of electrons is a constant called the Faraday constant and has been known
since 1834, when Michael Faraday published his works on electrolysis. In 1910, Robert Millikan with the
help of Harvey Fletcher obtained the first measurement of the charge on an electron. Dividing the charge on
a mole of electrons by the charge on a single electron provided a more accurate estimate of the Avogadro
number.[18]

SI definition of 1971

In 1971, the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) decided to regard the amount of
substance as an independent dimension of measurement, with the mole as its base unit in the International
System of Units (SI).[15] Specifically, the mole was defined as an amount of a substance that contains as
many elementary entities as there are atoms in 0.012 kilograms of carbon-12.

By this definition, the common rule of thumb that "one gram of matter contains N0 nucleons" was exact for
carbon-12, but slightly inexact for other elements and isotopes. On the other hand, one mole of any
substance contained exactly as many molecules as one mole of any other substance.

As a consequence of this definition, in the SI system the Avogadro constant NA had the dimensionality of
reciprocal of amount of substance rather than of a pure number, and had the approximate value 6.02 × 1023
with units of mol−1 .[15] By this definition, the value of NA inherently had to be determined experimentally.

The BIPM also named NA the "Avogadro constant", but the term "Avogadro number" continued to be
used especially in introductory works.[19]

SI redefinition of 2019

In 2017, the BIPM decided to change the definitions of mole and amount of substance.[20][3] The mole was
redefined as being the amount of substance containing exactly 6.022 140 76 × 1023 elementary entities.
One consequence of this change is that the mass of a mole of 12 C atoms is no longer exactly 0.012 kg. On
1
the other hand, the dalton (a.k.a. universal atomic mass unit) remains unchanged as 12 of the mass of
12 C.[21][22] Thus, the molar mass constant is no longer exactly 1 g/mol, although the difference
(4.5 × 10−10 in relative terms, as of March 2019) is insignificant for practical purposes.[3][1]

Connection to other constants

The Avogadro constant NA is related to other physical constants and properties.

It relates the molar gas constant R and the Boltzmann constant kB, which in the SI is defined
to be exactly 1.380 649 × 10−23 J/K:[3]

R = kB NA = 8.314 462 618... J⋅mol−1⋅K−1

It relates the Faraday constant F and the elementary charge e, which in the SI is defined as
exactly 1.602 176 634 × 10−19 coulombs:[3]
 F = e NA = 9.648 533 212... × 104 C⋅mol−1

It relates the molar mass constant Mu and the atomic mass constant mu currently
1.660 539 066 60(50) × 10−27 kg:[23]

Mu = mu NA = 0.999 999 999 65(30) × 10−3 kg⋅mol−1

σ = 1 / {NA }[24]

See also
Mole Day
CODATA 2018

References
1. Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (2019): The International System of Units (SI) (htt
ps://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si-brochure/SI-Brochure-9-EN.pdf), 9th edition, English
version, page 134. Available at the BIPM website (https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-br
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and units in Clinical Chemistry (IUPAC-IFCC Recommendations 1996)"; page 963, item
"Avogadro constant (http://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00543)". Pure and Applied
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nist.gov/si-redefinition/meet-constants). Nist. NIST Special Publication 330. Gaithersburg,
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4. de Bievre, P.; Peiser, H. S. (1992). "Atomic Weight: The Name, Its History, Definition and
Units". Pure and Applied Chemistry. 64 (10): 1535–1543. doi:10.1351/pac199264101535 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.1351%2Fpac199264101535). S2CID 96317287 (https://api.semanticscholar.o
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5. Perrin, Jean (1909). "Mouvement brownien et réalité moléculaire". Annales de Chimie et de
Physique. 8e Série. 18: 1–114. Extract in English, translation by Frederick Soddy (http://web.
lemoyne.edu/~giunta/perrin.html).
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(https://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/41483022/si_brochure_8.pdf) (PDF) (8th ed.),
pp. 114–15, ISBN 92-822-2213-6, archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20210604163219/ht
tps://www.bipm.org/documents/20126/41483022/si_brochure_8.pdf) (PDF) from the original
on 4 June 2021, retrieved 16 December 2021
14. Avogadro, Amedeo (1811). "Essai d'une maniere de determiner les masses relatives des
molecules elementaires des corps, et les proportions selon lesquelles elles entrent dans ces
combinaisons". Journal de Physique. 73: 58–76. English translation (http://web.lemoyne.ed
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(http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1926/press.html).
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(https://www.bipm.org/utils/en/pdf/CIPM/CIPM2017-EN.pdf), page 23. Available at the BIPM
website (https://www.bipm.org/en/committees/cipm/meeting/106.html) Archived (https://web.a
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21. Pavese, Franco (January 2018). "A possible draft of the CGPM Resolution for the revised SI,
compared with the CCU last draft of the 9th SI Brochure". Measurement. 114: 478–483.
Bibcode:2018Meas..114..478P (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018Meas..114..478P).
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8.020). ISSN 0263-2241 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0263-2241).
22. "Unified atomic mass unit". The IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology. 2014.
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23. "2018 CODATA Value: atomic mass constant" (https://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?u).
The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty. NIST. 20 May 2019. Retrieved
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24. Brown, Richard J. C. (10 April 2019). "Future requirements for non-decimal unit prefixes in
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External links
1996 definition of the Avogadro constant (https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/A00543)
from the IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology ("Gold Book")
Some Notes on Avogadro's Number, 6.022 × 1023 (https://web.archive.org/web/20140428004
944/http://iweb.tntech.edu/tfurtsch/scihist//avogadro.htm) (historical notes)
An Exact Value for Avogadro's Number (https://www.americanscientist.org/article/an-exact-v
alue-for-avogadros-number) – American Scientist
Avogadro and molar Planck constants for the redefinition of the kilogram (https://web.archive.
org/web/20110717124427/http://www.inrim.it/Nah/Web_Nah/home.htm)
Murrell, John N. (2001). "Avogadro and His Constant". Helvetica Chimica Acta. 84 (6): 1314–
1327. doi:10.1002/1522-2675(20010613)84:6<1314::AID-HLCA1314>3.0.CO;2-Q (https://do
i.org/10.1002%2F1522-2675%2820010613%2984%3A6%3C1314%3A%3AAID-HLCA131
4%3E3.0.CO%3B2-Q).
Scanned version of "Two hypothesis of Avogadro", 1811 Avogadro's article, on BibNum (http
s://translate.google.com/translate?&us=auto&tl=en&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bibnum.educ
ation.fr%2Fchimie%2Ftheorie-chimique%2Fles-deux-hypotheses-d-avogadro-en-1811)

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