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The mole is not an ordinary measurement unit

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Abstract

In this paper, it is argued that the SI system has not carefully enough taken into account the differences that exist between stoichiometry and physics, and because of this neglect forced the kind-of-quantity amount of substance into a false form. The mole is not a unit such as the metre, the kilogram, and the second. It is a “unit” only in the sense in which purely mathematical scaling factors can be called units.

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Acknowledgments

The paper owes much to the straightforward discussions that have taken place in a couple of small mailing groups where I am lucky to have become adopted. In particular, I am grateful to Paul De Bièvre, Walter Emerson, Marcus Foster, Stephen Humphry, Brian Leonard, and Gary Price. I thank De Bièvre for the invitation to write this paper.

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Correspondence to Ingvar Johansson.

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Some notations in this article do not comply with usual ACQUAL rules. They have been admitted as the article provides a view on quantities and units from a quite different perspective.

Papers published in this section do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editors, the Editorial Board and the Publisher. A critical and constructive debate in the Discussion Forum or a Letter to the Editor is strongly encouraged!

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Johansson, I. The mole is not an ordinary measurement unit. Accred Qual Assur 16, 467–470 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-011-0804-z

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