CHEM 1104 Chapter 2

Measurements and Calculations – Chapter 2.1 - 2.8

Overview:

• Scientific Notation
• Units
• Measurements of Length, Volume and Mass
• Uncertainty in Measurement
o Accuracy
o Precision
• Significant Figures
o Counting
o Rounding off Numbers
o Determining Significant Figures in Calculations
• Problem Solving and Dimensional Analysis
• Temperature Conversion (0C and K)
• Density
• Questions

Scientific Notation

Read textbook section 2.1

Scientific notation to a convenient way write a very large or a very small number:

Very large number: 96 000 000 looks better as 9.6 x 107 (look at the exponent)

Very small number: 0.000 000 42 looks better as 4.2 x 10-7 (look at the exponent)

Scientific notation expresses a number as a product of a number between 1 and 10 and the
appropriate power of 10.

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Examples of Converting Numbers to Scientific Notation:

a) We will use 625 as an example of a number larger than 1:

The #___ in the exponent tells you that you had to move the decimal two places to the ______
to get a number between 1 and 10. Numbers greater than 1 (large number) will always have a
______________exponent.

Always double check your answers.

b) We will use 0.0625 as an example of a number smaller than 1:

The #_____ in the exponent tells you that you had to move the decimal two places to the
_________ to get a number between 1 and 10. Numbers less than 1 (small numbers) will
always have a ___________ exponent.

Always double-check your answers: large numbers should have positive exponents and small
numbers should have negative exponents.

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Practice 1

Switch the following numbers to scientific notation:

a) 0.000016 =

b) 12567 =

c) 0.000000824 =

d) 3000067 =

Determine which number is bigger:

a) 8.9 x 10-7 or 1.1 x 10-3

b) 1.8 x 106 or 2.3 x 103

You can enter numbers in scientific notation in your calculator by pressing EE or EXP and entering
the power of 10.

Try entering 2.7 x 103 to enter 2700

Try entering 8.24 x 10-7 to enter 0.000000824

It will increase your grade and lower your frustration if you properly learn how to use your
calculator. It needs to be a scientific calculator.

You should be able to punch in an ordinary number on your calculator and then switch it to display in
scientific notation using a function on your calculator. If the number is in scientific notation mode you
should be able to switch it back to display in ordinary number mode. All models are different. Learn
to use the scientific notation mode on your model.

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If you are given a number in scientific notation, you should be able to write it as an ordinary number:

8.64 x 10-1 = 0.864

7.2 x 104 = 72000

Units

Read textbook section 2.2

All measurement require both a number and a unit. If you leave out the unit the measurement is
meaningless.

The length of the object is 10 cm. If I stated the length is 10 you would have no idea how long the
object was.

The three common systems for units are:

1. _________________: examples - pounds, inches , gallons

2. _________________: examples – kilograms, meters, litres
3. SI (International System) - based on the metric system

In Chemistry, we mainly use SI (International System)

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Examples of SI units:

The only unit above that is different than the metric system is the unit for temperature. In SI we use
the Kelvin and in the metric system we use Celsius.

To change the size of units we use prefixes shown in the following table. You should know all of these
definitions without looking them up:

Practice using prefix definitions:

1 kilometer = 1 km = 1000 m = 103 m

1 milliliters =

1 nanometers =
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Measurements of Length, Volume and Mass

Read textbook section 2.3

Length:

The base unit for length is the meter.

From the table above we can write equivalent statements: (practice a few on your own)

You should be able to write all the equivalent statements for the table above without looking at the
table. You need to know how to do this when we do unit conversions later.

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Volume:

The SI unit for volume is a derived unit called cubic meter (m3) but we use liters more commonly:

A useful equivalent statement to memorize for volume is:

Mass:

Prefixes for mass units go with the gram as shown in the table above.

Uncertainty in Measurement

Read textbook section 2.4

Measurements are not 100% certain unless you measure something by counting.

Example: The pen is 30.5 cm long (estimated the last digit, making it uncertain)
There are 12 students (exact measurement, making it 100% certain)

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Measuring with a ruler:

What do we record?

We often use the words accuracy with precision when we talk about measurements. Students often
confuse them.

• Accuracy: the extent to which a measured value coincides with the true value
• Precision: the reproducibility of the measurement (consistency).

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Significant Figures

Read textbook section 2.5

All the numbers recorded in a measurement (certain numbers plus the first uncertain number) are
called significant figures (sig figs).

Rules for Counting Sig. Fig.’s:

1. Nonzero integers are always count as significant figures.

Example: 1981 has

18,967,523 has
1.23456 has

2. Zeros: there are three classes of zeros:

a. Leading zero: zeros the precede all the nonzero digits are not considered sig figs

Example: 0.12 has

0.813 has
0.0002 has

b. Captive zeros: zeros between nonzero digits are always considered a sig fig

Example: 2009 has

108 has
1152.01 has

c. Trailing zeros: zero at the right end of a number is considered a sig fig only if it is written
with a decimal point

Example: 250 has

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250. has
13.0 has
150.0 has

3. Exact numbers: Numbers that are determined by counting (not measuring) are assumed to
have unlimited significant figures and will not limit the number of significant figures in a
calculation.

Example: 3 apples has

15 chapters has
5 painters has

NOTE: Sometimes it is easier to count the sig figs if you write the number in scientific notation

Example: 2170.01  2.17001 x 103 has

Include all your sig figs in your calculation.

Rules for Rounding off Numbers:

If the digit to be removed is:

• Greater than or equal to (≥) 5: the preceding digit is increased by 1

Example: rounding 2.25 and 2.26 to 2 sig figs 

• Less than (<) 5: the preceding digit remains the same

Example: 2.24 to 2 sig figs 

Complete the following Mastery assignment on OWLv2: Chapter 2: Mastery-part 1 (~ 60 mins)

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Rules for Using Sig Figs in Calculations:

1) Multiplication/Division
The # of sig. figs. in the answer should be the same as the measurement with the least
number of sig figs (Limiting measurement).

3.82 x 1.2 = 4.584 

5.482/265 = 0.020686792 

(1.27 x 3.1416)/0.072 =

2) Addition/Subtraction
The # of sig. figs. in the answer is limited by the measurement that has the least number of
decimal places in normal notation. The answer will have the same number of decimal places
as this measurement and after you can determine the number of sig figs in the answer.

15.021 + 11.3 + 122.467 = 148.788 

47.2 – 9 =

Only round off your numbers for your very last answer.

Practice 2

For each of the following, write the answers to the correct number of sig figs:

a) 9.7789 + 3.3315 – 2.21 =

b) (7.223 + 9.14 + 3.7795)/3.1 =

c) 1.091 x 103 + 2.21 x 102 + 1.14 x 101 =

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Problem Solving and Dimensional Analysis

Read textbook section 2.6

We use dimensional analysis when converting a given result from one system of units to another.

Example:
6.8 feet = ? inches

We first need an equivalent statement that relates the two units:

1 ft = 12 in (non SI units so you could look it up)

The two possible conversion factors for this equivalent statement are:

Choose the appropriate conversion factor by looking at the direction of the required change.

Get in the habit of always:

1) cancelling your units
2) checking your answer for the correct number of significant figures
3) checking to see if your answer makes sense

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Example: multiple conversion factor

An iron sample has a mass of 4.50 lbs. What is the mass of this sample in grams?

You will need two equivalent statements

1 kg = 2.2046 lbs (you can look it up as it has a non SI unit); 1 kg = 1000 g (you should know)

Practice 3
Perform the following conversions: (you should know the equivalent statements you need and not
need to look them up)

a) 12.5 m to nm

b) 6674.8 g to kg

c) 208 μL to mL

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Temperature Conversion

Read textbook section 2.7

There are three common units for temperature: Fahrenheit (British), Celsius (Metric) and Kelvin (SI).
We will only deal with Celsius (oC) and Kelvin (K). The temperature unit is the same size but the zero
points are different:

The boiling point of water is set at ___________ and the freezing point at ______________

0 K (or -273°C) is referred to as _____________________.

The formula to convert between the two temperature units are as follows:

T(K) = T (oC) + 273

T (oC) = T(K) – 273

Example: Last night I had a fever 42oC. What was my temperature in Kelvin?

Example: If the outdoor thermometer reads 300. K should you wear a jacket?

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Density

Read textbook section 2.8

Density is the mass of a substance per unit volume of the substance.

Common units for density are g/cm3 = g/mL

Example: Suppose a student finds that 23.50 mL of a certain liquid weighs 35.062 g. What is the
density of the liquid?

Example: Isopropyl alcohol has a density of 0.785 g/mL. What volume should be measured to obtain
20.0 g of the liquid?

Example: What is the mass of a 49.6 mL-sample of a liquid, which has a density of 0.85 g/mL?

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Practice 4
Solve the following two density related problems:

a) A chemistry student finds a medallion in a pawn shop. To figure out what it’s made of, she
weighs the medallion and finds its mass to be 55.64 g. She then places some water in a
graduated cylinder and reads the volume as 75.2 mL. Next she drops the medallion into the
cylinder and reads the new volume as 77.8 mL. Is the medallion platinum (d = 21.4 g/cm3) or
silver (d = 10.5 g/cm3)?

b) Copper has a density of 8.96 g/cm3. 75.0 g of copper is added to 50.0 mL of water in a
graduated cylinder. Determine the volume reading to which the water level in the cylinder will
rise.

Complete the following Mastery assignment on OWLv2: Chapter 2: Mastery-part 2 (~45 mins)

Complete the following End of Chapter Assignment on OWLv2: Chapter 2: EOC (~1 h 15 mins)

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