What is the energy in Joules of a mole of photons of microwave light having a frequency typical of microwave? (frequency = 3.0 x 10^9 Hz)
I tried using the equation E= h x frequency, but I ended up with the answer 1.98 x 10^-24 instead of the correct answer 1.2 J, so there must be another step that I'm missing.
Thanks for showing your work. It made it quick to know what was wrong. You found the energy per photon. For a mole of photons multiply by 6.02E23.
To find the energy in Joules of a mole of photons, you can use the equation E = N * h * frequency, where E is the energy, N is Avogadro's number (6.022 x 10^23), h is Planck's constant (6.626 x 10^-34 J·s), and frequency is the frequency of the microwave light (3.0 x 10^9 Hz).
In your calculation, it seems that you forgot to consider Avogadro's number. Let's go through the steps again:
1. Convert the frequency to be in Hz: 3.0 x 10^9 Hz.
2. Multiply the frequency by Planck's constant (h): (6.626 x 10^-34 J·s) * (3.0 x 10^9 Hz) = 1.988 x 10^-24 J.
3. Now, since you want to calculate the energy for a mole of photons, multiply the energy by Avogadro's number (N): (1.988 x 10^-24 J) * (6.022 x 10^23) = 1.1976 J.
Note that I've rounded the answer to three significant figures, which gives 1.20 J.
So, the correct answer for the energy in Joules of a mole of photons of microwave light is approximately 1.20 J.