Mole Day

October 23
John was printing out Mole Day jokes on the printer when I stood there, waiting for the much more prosaic printout of Tony's grades for Tony's coach. When he saw me noticing the cute mole on one of his pages, John said, "Don't you know what Mole Day is?"In my English ignorance, I admitted I did not. John smiled. “6.02 times 10 to the 23rd power is the basic unit of weight in chemistry: a mole. All over the world, chemists celebrate Mole Day.”He warmed the instructor office with his smile. “This morning at 6:02, I went to the top of the Washington bridge, stopped my car, got out, drank a Moulson beer, facing east, got back in the car, and got out of there before the cops arrived. I keep inviting my students, but so far nobody’s joined me.”

“You’re probably better off not telling your students who are in the police science program,” I advised.

He turned, to head off class with his sheaf of Mole Day jokes.
Taking potential opportunity, I asked, "Can you explain particle physics to me?"He looked puzzled."Particles. Waves and particles," I said, making wave motions with the hand that was not holding Tony’s grade information. "I need it for a character in a story I am writing."
"I would take a lot more than one beer for me to explain that," he answered.
I think he realizes that explaining deep physics to English teachers is not the stuff of which successful science conversations are made. But it was very interesting, learning about Mole Day.

Note: Any identifying information has been changed in ensure John’s continued successful celebration of Mole Day.