Joule per mole

The joule per mole (symbol: J·mole⁻¹ or J/mol) is an SI derived unit of energy per amount of material. Energy is measured in joules, and the amount of material is measured in moles. For example, Gibbs free energy is quantified as joules per mole.

Since 1 mole = 6.02214179×10²³ particles (atoms, molecules, ions etc.), 1 Joule per mole is equal to 1 Joule divided by 6.02214179×10²³ particles, or 1.66054×10⁻²⁴ Joule per particle. This very small amount of energy is often expressed in terms of a smaller unit such as the electronvolt (eV, see below).

Physical quantities measured in J·mol⁻¹ usually describe quantities of energy transferred during phase transformations or chemical reactions. Division by the number of moles facilitates comparison between processes involving different quantities of material and between similar processes involving different types of materials. The meaning of such a quantity is always context-dependent and, particularly for chemical reactions, is dependent on the (possibly arbitrary) definition of a 'mole' for a particular process.

For convenience and due to the range of magnitudes involved these quantities are almost always reported in kJ·mol⁻¹ rather than in J·mol⁻¹. For example, heats of fusion and vaporization are usually of the order of 10 kJ·mol⁻¹, bond energies are of the order of 100 kJ·mol⁻¹, and ionization energies of the order of 1000 kJ·mol⁻¹.

1 kJ·mol⁻¹ is equal to 0.239 kcal·mol⁻¹ or 1.04×10⁻² eV per particle. At room temperature (25 °C, 77 °F, or 298.15 K) 1 kJ·mol⁻¹ is equal to 0.4034 .