English

A graphite-prism definition for Avogadro's "integer"

General Physics 2015-08-06 v4

Abstract

The new International System of Units may let us select an integer value for Avogadro's number. Some might prefer an integer that's divisible by 12, so that an integer number of 12C^{12}C atoms may be associated (to first order) with a gram's mass. For educational and practical reasons it may also help to choose a {\em physically-meaningful} definition within measurement error of the current numeric value. Cubes of diamond face-centered-cubic Si and (much rarer) face-centered-cubic C have been proposed, but these structures do not have naturally-occurring facets (or numbers of atoms generally divisible by 12). We show here that graphite prisms formed by stacking mm hexagonal graphene sheets, with m51,150,060m \equiv 51,150,060 carbon-12 atoms on each side, are a natural solution that may facilitate generation of precise molar standards as well.

Cite

@article{arxiv.1201.5537,
  title  = {A graphite-prism definition for Avogadro's "integer"},
  author = {P. Fraundorf and Melanie Lipp},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1201.5537},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

4 pages (5 figs, 25 refs) RevTeX, cf. https://sites.google.com/site/anintegerforavogadro/

R2 v1 2026-06-21T20:10:07.623Z