Abstract

MARIN-BECERRA, Armando  and  MORENO-ESPARZA, Rafael. Relative masses and mole: a simple demonstration of a difficult concept. Educ. quím [online]. 2010, vol.21, n.4, pp.287-290. ISSN 0187-893X.

Amount of substance, molecular and molar mass and their relation with Avogadro's number are concepts that students often find difficult to understand. Using a two-plate balance and a simple analogy, it is easy to demonstrate that one gram of hydrogen contains the same number of atoms as those contained in twelve grams of carbon, without needing to know the actual quantity of the atoms involved.

Keywords : first-year undergraduate; general chemistry; demonstrations; analogies; constructivism.