The Departments of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry in CIT launch this year’s National Mole Day Competition for Irish Second Level Schools.

Help us celebrate National Mole Day in Ireland by entering our competition for schools. Show us how your school celebrated Mole Day and you could win a laptop for your school. We are also running an individual prize for students. Enter your poster, flag or animation on the Mole Day theme and be in with a chance to win an Apple IPad for yourself.

Mole day

The mole celebrated on National Mole Day is not the furry underground creature that leaves behind mounds of earth but a unit used in chemistry. On Mole Day, science teachers and students around the world commemorate Avogadro's Number, 6.02 x10^23. One mole of any substance contains Avogadro's Number of molecules or atoms of that substance and this is why Mole Day is celebrated each year from 6:02 am to 6:02 pm on the 23rd of October.  As Mole Day takes place on a Sunday this year we will be celebrating it on Friday, 21st of October. We will have to wait until next year to celebrate it on the actual day.

Mole Day was created as a way to encourage interest in chemistry and schools around the world celebrate Mole Day with some tongue-in-cheek activities related to chemistry and moles. Every year a theme is set for the celebration; last year it was Moles of the Caribbean, this year it is Moles of the Round Table.

If you want to celebrate Mole Day in your school, here are some ideas to get you started:

• Toast the mole with 18g of water
• Have a Molympics – any mole related sport can be included here but don’t forget the 6:02 minute relay
• Have a Mole Day pun or joke competition.
  Why was there only one Avogadro?    When they made him, they broke the moled
  How much did Avogadro exaggerate?    He made mountains out of molehills
• Make a Mole Day flag

Visit www.moleday.org for more details on Mole Day itself and a longer list of ideas to help you celebrate this unusual day.
Have a look at the winning entries from last year’s competition on our facebook page www.facebook.com/moleday.

As Mole Day falls on a Sunday this year, we will celebrate it on Friday, 21st of October instead.

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Competition details

1. School Prize for the Best Celebration of Mole Day

Prize: Laptop for your school

If you are entering this competition you need to do two things:

1.  Join us on our Facebook page on the 21st October and tell us how you are celebrating Mole Day in your school.
2.  Provide a portfolio showing the activities your school undertook to celebrate the day and send it to CITmoleday@cit.ie by the 28th of October 2011, ensuring you clearly identify your school and the supervising teacher, along with a contact address, email and phone number.

Competition Rules

• The competition is open to all second level schools in the Republic of Ireland.
• The school judged to have the best range of activities and level of participation will win the school prize.
• The decision of the judges is final.
• By entering the competition you are agreeing to the use of your material by us for publicity purposes and any photos provided by a school, including photos of students, will be deemed to have relevant approval.  It shall be the school's responsibility to ensure this requirement is satisfied.
  
  
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2. Student Prize for Best Poster, Flag or Animation

Prize: Apple IPad

If you are entering this competition you need to:

Make a poster, flag or animation on the theme of Mole day.
Email your entry to us as an image, PowerPoint file or animation to CITmoleday@cit.ie by the 28th of October 2011. You must clearly identify yourself, your school and your supervising teacher, along with a contact address, email and phone number.

Competition Rules

•  You must be a pupil attending a second level school in the Republic of Ireland.
•  The decision of the judges is final.
•  By entering the competition you are agreeing to the use of your material by us for publicity purposes.