Biochemistry I Fall Term, 2000


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-1
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
pi   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
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-1 = 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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