Question

How are a mole and a dozen similar?

Answer 1

A mole is just a name given to describe how many 'things' there are.

Explanation:

It's not that confusing as it seems so let me give you an example.

A dozen, as you know, is a common term used to describe something that contains `12` of something. It is commonly used to describe eggs.

A dozen eggs is just saying we have `12` eggs. It doesn't even have to be eggs. It could be a dozen pencils, a dozen muffins, a dozen cars, etc. It is just known that a dozen means `12` 'things'.

Similarly, a mole describes that there are `6.02 * 10^23` molecules of something. So say I have `1` mole of `"H"_2"O"`. This means I have `1` mole of `"H"_2"O"` and that means I have `6.02 * 10^23` molecules of `"H"_2"O"`.

You can even use moles to describe how many hairs are on your head, how many moles of sand grains there are, etc; moles is just a name given to describe how many of 'something' you have.

It is more convenient for chemists to describe reactions and molecules by moles instead of saying, "We reacted `6.02 *10^23` molecules of `"H"_2"O"` with `1.80 * 10^24` molecules of `"HCl"`."