When hearing the name Mole Day, many people would infer that the holiday is celebrating the small, burrowing, and annoying animal that messes up gardens. Such a supposition, however, would be erroneous. Mole Day is actually a holiday based around the SI (International System) unit measuring the quantity of a substance, otherwise known as a mole.

Glen Rock High School’s chemistry students celebrated the unofficial holiday of Mole Day on October 23, between the times of 6:02am and 6:02pm. This date was chosen in honor of Avogadro’s number, 6.02 × 10^23.

According to the Washington Post, “Mole Day, which appears to have started in 1991, was conceived to try to get children interested in chemistry, and on this day every year, schools around the world introduce activities involving chemistry, and, of course moles.”

Most chemistry students in the United States, South Africa, Australia and Canada celebrate Mole Day, and each year there is a unified theme for all the schools. This year’s theme was Animole Kingdom. In 2012, the theme was Molar Eclipse.

Mole Day is not a ‘serious’ holiday, and it mostly consists of puns having to do with a mole. For example: Why are moles always on the phone? Because they love mole-able devices.

“My favorite part of Mole Day this year was definitely the enthusiasm from the students,” Glen Rock High School Chemistry teacher, Mrs. Weisberg, said. “Everyone was so excited to celebrate the day and to do the activities.”

The science department brought Mole Day to Glen Rock High School with a celebration in each of the chemistry classes. Each chemistry student was asked to bring in a food item that had to do with moles (for example, guacamole). The students also performed a lab with rotating stations to look at different samples and then had the chance to calculate the number of moles in each sample.

“All the classes started with the ‘Pledge Allegiance to the Mole,’ followed by some Mole Day Riddles. Students that answered a riddle correctly were awarded a homework pass!  After the riddles, the class gathered to sing the song ‘A Mole Is a Unit,’” Mrs. Weisberg said.

All of the teachers were dedicated and excited about Mole Day.

“Mole Day is a great day for us to come together as a class, have some fun and snacks and learn something about Chemistry too!” said Mrs. Weisberg. “And hopefully spark enough interest in the sciences that some of my students might consider careers in science or medicine.”

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/10/23/its-mole-day-whats-that/