Editing Mole (unit) (section)

=== Nature of the entities {{anchor|Elementary entities}} ===
{{see also|Amount of substance#Nature of the particles}}

Depending on the nature of the substance, an '''elementary entity''' may be an atom, a molecule, an ion, an ion pair, or a [[subatomic particle]] such as a [[proton]]. For example, 10 moles of [[water]] (a [[chemical compound]]) and 10 moles of [[mercury (element)|mercury]] (a [[chemical element]]) contain equal numbers of particles of each substance, with one atom of mercury for each molecule of water, despite the two quantities having different volumes and different masses.

The mole corresponds to a given count of entities.<ref name="IUPAChist" /> Usually, the entities counted are chemically identical and individually distinct. For example, a solution may contain a certain number of dissolved molecules that are more or less independent of each other. However, the constituent entities in a solid are fixed and bound in a lattice arrangement, yet they may be separable without losing their chemical identity. Thus, the solid is composed of a certain number of moles of such entities. In yet other cases, such as [[diamond]], where the entire crystal is essentially a single molecule, the mole is still used to express the number of atoms bound together, rather than a count of molecules. Thus, common chemical conventions apply to the definition of the constituent entities of a substance, in other cases exact definitions may be specified. The mass of a substance is equal to its [[Relative atomic mass|relative atomic (or molecular) mass]] multiplied by the [[molar mass constant]], which is almost exactly 1&nbsp;g/mol.