Constants & Conversion Factors

Physical Biochemistry Spring Term, 1998

Some Fundamental Constants & Numbers

	Constant or Number	Symbol	Value	cgs units
Speed of light	c	3.00E+10	cm/sec
Avogadro No.	No	6.02E+23	mol
Planck's	h	6.63E-27	erg-sec
Boltzmann's	k	1.38E-16	erg/K
Gas constant	R	1.987	cal/K-mol
Gas constant	R	8.31E+07	erg/K-mol
Electron mass	m	9.11E-28	g
Atomic mass unit	d	1.66E-24	g
		3.14159
e		2.718
ln(10)		2.303

Coversion Factors for Energy Units (g-cm /sec )

	Units	kcal/mol	kJ/mol	erg	eV	cm
1 kcal/mol   =	1	4.18E+00	6.95E-14	4.34E-02	3.50E+02
1 kJ/mol   =	2.39E-01	1	1.66E-14	1.04E-02	8.36E+01
1 erg   =	1.44E+13	6.02E+13	1	6.24E+11	5.03E+15
1 eV   =	2.31E+01	9.65E+01	1.60E-12	1	8.07E+03
1 cm   =	2.86E-03	1.20E-02	1.99E-16	1.24E-04	1

To convert from energy units in the first column to units in the first row,
multiply by the factor at their intersection.

The tables are adapted from those in Physical Chemistry with Applications to the Life Sciences (1979) Eisenberg, D. & Crothers, D. The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Co.

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