Why October 23rd?
What do little rodents have to do with chemistry?
A chemist named Amadeo Avogadro introduced the scientific community to the concept of the mole - one which every chemist (and chemistry student) uses in describing numbers of atoms or molecules.
The mole is based on the value 6.02 X 1023 which is defined as the number of atoms of carbon-12 that are found in a 12 gram sample. This is a phenomenally large value of atoms - a number that cannot be fathomed by any stretch of the imagination.
6.02 X 1023 can also be written as 6,020,000,000,000,000,000,000,000
Not only does mole day have a date but also two mole times at 6:02am and 6:02pm on that date.
We celebrate Mole Day at our by making pet moles, eating mole food and doing mole labs.