1-4 Units of Measurement Guide for Reading

• What units are used in science

As you will find, measurements are an integral part of science. for measuring length, mass, and
A measurement consists of a number and a unit. For example, volume?
a basketball player might easily be seven feet tall. In this measure- • What are metric prefixes? How
ment, "seven" is the number and "feet" is the unit. Both a number are they used?
and a unit are always needed to make sense of a measurement.
You would know there was something wrong if you read that
someone was six inches tall. And what would you think if you
read that someone was six tall?
How tall are you? You probably know this measurement best
in units of feet and inches. These units are part of the English
system of measurement. (Actually, this name is misleading be-
cause the English have now abandoned it.) The English system
is not used in science. Instead, an international system of meas-
urement called the metric system is preferred.
Recall what you read about Joanie's research in Section 1-1.
When Joanie returned to the laboratory after collecting her soil
and water samples, she made several measurements using the
units of the metric system. This system is iike an internatiomi.1
language spoken by all scientists because it establishes a common
system of measurement that all scientists u.nderstand. When
Joanie uses the metric system for her measurements, other scien-
tists who read her results will understand the significance of her
work more easily.

Figure 1-13 Workers at the New York Zoological Society

must make careful temperature measurements in order !!!
preserve the frozen embryos of endangered species (left).
Without a system of measurement, you would have n_o way of
knowing just how tall basketball star Alonzo Mourning
(right) really is.

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Chapter 1 Chemistry and You 17

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Figure 1-14 The table lists SI Base Units
the SI base units as well as
some derived units. What is the Unit Name and Symbol
Physical Quantity
basic SI unit of temperature? kilogram, kg
mass
meter, m
length
second, s
time
mole, mol
count, quantity
kelvin, K
temperature
electric current ampere,A
luminous intensity candela, cd

Derived Units Commonly Used in Chemistry

Physical Quantity Unit Name and Symbol

area square meter, m 2

Figure 1-15 Although these cubic meter, m 3
floating astronauts have lost volume
force newton,N
weight, their mass is the same pascal, Pa ,
in orbit as it was on Earth. pressure
What is the difference between energy joule, J
mass and weight? power watt, W
voltage volt, V
frequency hertz, Hz
electric charge coulomb,C

The International Syi:;;tem of Units

In 1960, the units of the metric system were streamlined b:
an international conference. The conference created a system c
units called the International System of Units, abbreviated
(after the French Systeme International d'Unites). The SI is b~
upon a set of seven metric units, which are called the base uni
of the SI. These base units are listed in Figure 1-14.
LENGTH The SI base units are carefully defined. The met
(abbreviated m) is the basic SI unit of length. One meter
currently defined as the distance that light travels in a vacut
during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second. This is i
proximately the distance between a doorknob and the floor,
in English units, 3.3 feet-a little more than one yard.
MASS AND WEIGHT The amount of material in an ob
is called its mass. Like the unit of length, the SI unit of m~i
carefully defined. The unit of mass, the kilogram (abbrev1,
kg), is a base unit of the SI. At the surface of the Earth,
kilogram weighs about 2.2 pounds. But note that mass and w,
are not the same. As you have just read, the mass of an o
18
is simply the amount of material in the object. The weight of an
r . I
\1
object is eq~al to the force of gravity pulling on the object. I
If a 1-kilogram wrench is carried into space, it no longer
weighs 2.2 pounds. The force of attraction due to Earth's grav-
INTEGRATING
ity-the weight of the wrench-depends on the distance between
the wrench and the Earth. In space, the wrench is "weightless" PHYSICS
because it is so far from Earth that the force of gravity seems to Have you ever wondered why
disappear. The amount of material in the wrench, however, is astronauts in orbit appear
the same on Earth and in space, so its mass does not change. weightless?
AREA AND VOLUME: DERIVED UNITS In addition to the
seven base units, other SI units can be made from combinations
of the base units. In the SI, a combination of base units is called
a derived unit. To find the area of a rectangle, for example, you
would multiply its length by its width. The area of a rectangle
5.0 meters long and 3.0 meters wide would be
area = length X width (Eq. 1)
= 5.0m X 3.0m
= 15 (m X m)
= 15m2
Notice that both the numbers and the units are multiplied to-
gether in calculating the area. The derived SI unit for area is the
square meter (m2). It is a derived unit because it is a combination
of base units.
Other common derived units are summarized in the table in Figure 1-16 The table lists
Figure 1-14. The SI unit of volume is the cubic meter (abbrevi- some common non-SI units that
ated m3>. The volume of an object is the amount of space that it are often used in chemistry.
occupies. A washing machine has a volume of about one cubic You will encounter some of
meter (1 m\ these units in this textbook.

The Units Used in This Textbookf )

Following international practice, most of the units used in
Non-SI Units Frequently
this textbook will be SI units. However, there are some excep- Encountered in Chemistry
tions. These exceptions are listed in the table in Figure 1-16. This Physical Unit Name
might be a good time to mention exceptions in science. We would Quantity and Symbol*
like to be able to tell you that science is based on rules and that
once you learn these rules, you will know everything there is to volume liter, L
know about science. Unfortunately, this is not the case! Science pressure atmosphere, atm
is a process, not a collection of rules. You will find as you study millimeters of
chemistry that there are exceptions to m~st rules: . . mercury, mm Hg
A non-SI unit frequently encountered m chenustry 1s the hter
(L), which is a unit of volume. One liter is slightly larger than a temperature Celsius degree, C0
quart. There are exactly 1000 liters (1000 L) in 1 cubic meter. energy calorie, cal
Another non-SI unit often used in chemistry is the Celsius •For conversion factors between
degree (C 0 ), which is a unit of temperature. We will discuss this these units and SI units, see
unit and other non-SI units as they are needed in your study Figure 1-29 on page 38.
of chemistry.

Chapter 1 Chemistry and You 19

wura parts used to make a unit
larger or smaller-are shown Common Metric Prefixes Used in Chemistry.....,...
in this table. What is the prefix
that means one thousandth? Prefix Abbreviation Meaning•
mega- M 1 000 000 or 106 --
kilo- k 1 000 or 103
1
deci- d 0.1 or 10-1
centi- C 0.01 or 10-2
mi/Ii- m 0.001 or J0-3
micro- µ 0.000 001 or J0-6
nano- n 0.000 000 001 or J0-9
pico- p 0.000 000 000 001 or 10-12
Figure 1-18 Do you think
milliliters would be an *Scientific, or exponential, notation used in the last column
appropriate unit to use to is reviewed in Section 1-6.
measure the volume of oil that
must be removed after a spill?
What unit might you use to Metric Prefixes
measure the mass of an
iceberg? The base SI units are not always convenient to use. For exam-
ple, to travel from her laboratory to the swamp, Joanie must
drive about 10,000 meters (a little more than 6 miles). This meas-
urement can be written in a more compact way using a metric
prefix. (Recall fro m your study of language arts that a prefix is
a word attached to a base word to change its meaning.) A metric
prefix is attached to the base unjt, creating a more convenient,
easier-to-use unit. Prefixes can make the new unit larger or
smaller than the base unit.
PREFIXES THAT MAKE THE UNIT LARGER The prefix kilo-
(k) means 1000. Therefore, l kilometer (1 km) equals 1000 meters.
In kilometer units, Joanie's 10,000-meter trip could be written as
10 kilometers.
10 km = 10 X 1000 m = 10,000 m (Eq. 2)
Other metric prefixes that make a unit larger are shown in the
table in Figure 1-17.

PREFIXES THAT MAKE THE UNIT SMALLER Metric pre-

fixes can also decrease the size of a unit. As part of an experiment
to measure the amount of oxygen dissolved in the swamp water,
for instance, Joanie adds small volumes of several chemicals to
a sample of the swamp water. The metric prefix milli- (m) means
one thousandth, 1/1000, or 0.001. One milliliter (1 mL) is equal
to 0.001 liter (0.001 L). When small volumes are involved, the
milliliter unit is more convenient than the liter unit. For example,
3 milliliters is easier to write and remember than 0.003 liter.
Another common metric prefix is centi- (c) meaning one hun-
dredth, 1/100, or 0.01. One cubic centimeter (1 cm 3) is the same
volume as one milliliter (1 mL). Other metric prefixes that make
a unit smaller_are also shown in the table in Figure 1-17. What
doe~ the prefix mega- mean? What is the abbreviation for the
prefix nano-?

SAMPLE PROBLEM 2
Express a time interval of 5 microseconds (5 µs) in Remember that metric-to-
seconds. metric conversions simply
involve moving the decimal
STRATEGY SOUJTION point the correct number of
places in the proper direction.
1. Analyze You are asked to convert a measurement When converting from a
from units of microseconds (µs) to units smaller unit to a larger unit,
of seconds (s) . move the decimal point to the
2. Plan Figure 1-17 gives the definition of the left. When converting from a
prefix micro- . You can use this definition larger unit to a smaller unit,
to solve this problem. move the decimal point to the
right.
3. Solve According to Figure 1-17, the prefix micro-
means 0.000 001. So 1 µs is 0.000 001 s:
1 µs . = 0.000 001 s
Therefore,
5 µs cco· 0.000 001 E '. < 5
= 0.000 005 s
4. Evaluate According to the ddinition ,)f the prefix
micro-, 5 µs should be a much smaller
unit of time than 5 s, as you have found.
PRACTICE PROBLEMS
3. Convert a volume of 8 deciliters into liters. Use the correct
abbreviations for each unit. (Answer: 0.8 L)
4. Is 5 centimeters longer or shorter than 8 millimeters? Ex-
plain your answer. (Answer: 5 cm is longer than 8 mm because
0.05 m (5 cm) is greater than 0.008 m (8 mm).)

[ 1-4 Section Review

1. What are the SI units for length, mass, and volume?
2. What is a metric prefix? What does the metric prefix
centi- mean? The prefix deci-?
3. What is the difference between mass !1nd weight?
4. Critical Thinking-Making comparisons What is the
difference between a base unit and a derived unit in
the metric system? Give one example of each type of
unit.
Chapter 1 Chemistry and You 21