Chemistry What is the Origin of the Mole Abbreviation in Chemistry?

[woosh9013]

In high school, I remember one of my chemistry teachers abbreviating mole by drawing a line over an m. I haven't seen anyone else do that. I've seen mol. many many times in books and from most other teachers/professors. Is the m with the line some older method for symbolizing mole? Does anyone know where she came up with that method of abbreviation?

 

[Borek]

Never seen that, and I was young many moons ago.

 

[Joskoplas]

The abbreviation, if you want to call it that, for mole is . . . 'mol'.

About as helpful as the abbreviation for dyne. ('dyn')

Whee! one less letter. :D

Are you sure your teacher wasn't talking about molar mass? That would be something like g/mol -- you know, as in the molar mass of water is about 18.0 g/mol.

 

[Joskoplas]

And even then, for molar mass, \tilde{m} is the symbol for the variable, not the unit itself. (That's supposed to be a bold m with a tilde over it, but I'm apparently having a bad Tex day.)

 

[Riogho]

I've seen mol abbreviated at m before, but never m with a bar over it. You could be integrating something possibly?

 

[woosh9013]

There was no integrating going on. It was extremely basic high school chemistry, and none of us knew any calculus at the time.

I'm positive she wasn't talking about molar mass. She used the abbreviation throughout the entire year, probably hundreds of times. She even told us that we could use the m with the line or mol., but not the m alone since that generally signifies meters.

I thought somebody would have seen that notation before. That's really weird. I guess I should stop using it.

 

[Joskoplas]

Then there is the unfortunate possibility that your teacher was the one with the wires crossed. It happens. Even Einstein accidentally wrote E = MC hammer before he got it right.

Well, no, but you get the point.

 

[Mentallic]

Even Einstein accidentally wrote E = MC hammer before he got it right.

Oh so thats how he does it! And I thought it took a genius

No I have never seen this abbreviation either. I'm sure you won't cramp your hand writing down an extra stroke for mol.