Hello, Arianna,
The Periodic Table tells us what we need to k now to answer this question. The atomic mass of carbon is 12.01 amu (atomic mass units). There are some surprising aspects to this number, however. For every element on the table, the atomic mass value can also be written with the unit grams/mole. As surprising as that sounds, it works!
This means that Carbon, with it's amu of 12.01, requires 12.01 grams for one mole (6.02 x 1023) of carbon atoms. The same conversion is true for rteh other elements: Mg's 24.30 amu can also be written as 24.30 grams Mg/(mole Mg). Even compounds adhere to this rule. Methane, CH4, has a total amu equal to the sum of it's components (12 + 1 + 1 + 1) = 15 amu. We can also write 15 grams/mole. This unit "grams/mole" is known as the "molar mass."
The mass of mole of carbon is it's molar mass times the number of moles:
(1 mole C)*(12.01 g/mole C) = 12.01 grams (the moles cancel, leaving grams). 12.01 grams of carbon supplies 6.02 x 1023 atoms of carbon. Sure beats the heck out of counting that many out with tweezers. If yiou counted at a rate of 2/second, it would take.9.54 x 1015 years, with no bathroom breaks.
Bob
