Nature of Measurement

INTRODUCTION
Measurement:
quantitative observation consisting of 2 parts
(number and scale (unit))

Examples:
 length: 2.2 m
 force: 4.45 kg m/s2

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 SI UNITS
International System of Unit (Système
Internationale d’Unites)
Based on metric system (?)
Is a decimal system of units for measurements of
mass, length, time and other quantities which can
be built from 7 base units:

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 SI Base Units
Measurement Unit Symbol

Length meter m
Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Temperature kelvin K
Amount of substance Mol Mol
Electrical current ampere A
Luminous intensity candela cd

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 SI PREFIX
Prefix Meaning Symbol Factor value
tera T 1012
giga G 109
mega millions of M 106 1000000
kilo thousands of k 103 1000
deci tenths of d 10-1 0.1
centi hundredths of c 10-2 0.01
milli thousandths of m 10-3 0.001
micro millionths of  10-6 0.000001
nano billionths of n 10-9 0.000000001
pico trillionths of p 10-12 0.000000000001

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 COMMON UNITS USED IN
LABORATORY MEASUREMENTS

LENGTH VOLUME

TEMPERATU
MASS RE
 LENGTH
 The SI unit for length, the meter (m) is too large
for most laboratory purposes.
 More convenient units are the centimeter (cm) and
millimeter (mm).
1 cm = 10-2 m = 0.01 m
1 mm = 10-3 m = 0.001 m
1m = 100 cm = 1000 mm
1 cm = 10 mm

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 MASS
 SI unit for mass: kilogram (kg)
 but the more convenient is gram (g) used for most
laboratory measurement.
1 kg = 1000 g
1g = 1000mg
1 mg = ? g
1 g = ? g

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 TEMPERATURE
 SI unit: Kelvin
 usually measured with a thermometer
 Three common scales:
degrees Celsius = oC
Kelvin = K
degrees Fahrenheit = oF

 Mathematical formulas to convert:

K = oC + 273
o
C = K - 273
o
F = (1.8 x oC) + 32

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 VOLUME
 Derived unit with dimensions of (length)3
 Unit: m3
 In chemistry, usually we measure amount of liquids.
The traditional metric unit of volume: liter (L)
1 L = 1000 cm3
1L= ?dm3
 the glassware we normally use is marked in
milliliters (mL)
1 L = 1000 mL
1 mL = 1cm3

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 Some volume relationships in SI.

Some volume equivalents:

1 m3 = 1000 dm3
1 dm3 = 1000 cm3
= 1 L = 1000 mL
1 cm3 = 1000 mm3
= 1 mL = 100= μL
1 mm3 = 1 μL

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 DERIVED UNITS
Some SI-derived units commonly used in chemistry:
measurement definition symbol
Area Length x width m2
density Mass/volume kg/m3
Speed Distance / Time m/s
Acceleration Change in speed / Time m/s2

Force Mass x Acceleration (kg.m)/s2

(newton, N)
pressure Force/area kg/(m.s2)
Pascal, Pa
energy Force x length (kg.m2)/s2
Joule, J

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 Conversion factor
 To change a quantity of one unit to an equivalent
amount of the other unit
 ‘PER expression’ can be used as a conversion factor

 Example: a) how many minutes in 2.72 hours?

b) how many hours in 259 minutes?

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 60 min in one hour

PER
60 min PER hour expression

60minutes
or
1hour

60 minutes = 1 hour

 Conversion factor is written as a fraction

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  Conversion factors:

60 min 1hour
and
1hour 60 min

a) how many minutes in 2.72 hours?

60 min
2.72 hours x = 163 minutes
1hour
b) how many hours in 250 minutes?

259 min x
1hour = 4.32 hours
60 min

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 Example 1:

Perform the following conversions

a) 255 nm = ? cm
b) 0.12 kg = ? cg
c) 1 L = ? dm3

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 a) 255 nm = ? cm
SI prefix: 1nm = 1 x 10-9 m
1cm = 1 x 10-2 m

Conversion factor:
1nm 1 x 10-9 m
and
1 x 10-9 m 1nm

1cm 1 x 10-2 m
and
1 x 10-2 m 1cm

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 nm cm

x 1 x 10-9 m x 1cm
255 nm
1nm 1 x 10-2 m

= 2.55 x 10-5 cm

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 b) 0.12 kg = ? cg

1 x 103 g 1cg
(0.12 kg)
1kg 1 x 10-2 g

= ?

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 c) 1 L = ? dm3

1 L = 1000 mL = 1000 cm3

3 3
1000 cm3 x 1 x 10-2 m x 1dm
1cm 1 x 10-1 m

x 1 x 10-6 m3 x 1dm3
1000 cm 3
= 1 dm3
1cm3 1 x 10-3 m3

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 Example 2:
The block of wood pictured below has a mass of 2.52 kg.
What is the density of the wood in g/cm3

6.2 cm

5.1 cm
1.08 m

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Solution
 Change the mass from kg to g

2.52 kg x 1000 g = 2.52 x 103 g

1 kg
 Change the length from m to cm

1.08 m x 100 cm = 108 cm

1m
 The volume of the wood:

108 cm x 5.1 cm x 6.2 cm = 3.4 x 103 cm3

 The density of the wood:

2.52 x 103 g = 0.74 g/cm3

3.4 x 103 cm3
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 Exercise:

1. Perform the following conversions:

a) 0 oC to oF and K
b) 100 oC to oF and K

2. The average density of earth is 5.52 g/cm3. What

is its density in kg/m3

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 Answer:

1. a) 32 oF ; 273 K
b) 212 oF ; 373 K
2.
3
5.52 g 1 x 10-3 kg 1cm
x x
cm3 1g 1 x 10-2 m

= 5.52 x 103 kg/m3

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 Homework
An empty vial weights 55.32 g.
1) If the vial weights 185.56 g when filled with
liquid mercury ( d = 13.53 g/cm3), what is its
volume?
2) How much would the vial weight if it were
filled with water? (0.997 g/cm3 at 25 °C)

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 ACCURACY AND PRECISION

Precision:
 how closely individual measurements agree with
one another.
Accuracy:
 how closely individual measurement agree with
the correct or true value

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 Not precise
Not accurate
Not precise
Accurate

Precise
Accurate
Precise
Not accurate

* Highly precise measurement do not necessarily

guarantee accurate results.

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 Example
Student A Student B Student C

1.964 g 1.972 g 2.000 g

1.978 g 1.968 g 2.002 g

Average value 1.971 g 1.970 g 2.001 g

True value: 2.000 g
Therefore:
 Student C’s result is the most accurate and precise
 Student B’s result is more precise than student A, but
neither set of results is very accurate

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 Exercise
Three workers measure the mass of a 10.000 g mass on
several different kitchen balances.
average
worker A : 10.022 g, 9.976 g, 10.008 g  10.002
Worker B : 9.836 g, 10.033 g, 9.732 g  9.867
worker C : 10.230 g, 10.231 g, 10.232 g  10.231

Q1:Which set of data has the best precision?

S1: worker C.
Q2:Which has the best accuracy?
S2: worker A

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 SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
 Very large and very small numbers can be
simplified written using a power of 10
 scientific notation

N x 10n

N = number between 1 – 10
n = exponent (+ve/–ve integer)

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  The power of 10 is equal to the number of places
that the decimal point has been moved:

 Moved to the left +ve number

 67890= 6.7890 x 104
 50000000 = 5.0 x 107

 Moved to the right -ve number

 0.0000312 = 3.12 x 10-5
 0.0468 = 4.68 x 10-2

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 Example 1:

Express the following in scientific notation

i) 4534.12
 4.53412 x 103
ii) 0.000000721
 7.21 x 10-7
iii) 74.6
 7.46 x 10

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 iv) 0.00203
 2.03 x 10-3
v) 10026
 1.0026 x 104

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Significant Figures
Digits that result from measurement such that only the
digit farthest to the right is known with certainty are
called significant figures

Guideline for using significant figures:

1. Any digit that is not zero is significant.
e.g: 1.234 kg 4 significant figures

2. Zeros between nonzero digits are

significant
e.g: 606 m 3 significant figures

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 3. Zeros to the left of the first nonzero digit not
significant
e.g: 0.0000349 3 significant figures

4. Number that is greater than 1, all the zeros written to

the right of the decimal point count as significant.
e.g: 2.0 2 significant figures
50.054 5 significant figures

Number that is less than 1, only the zeros that are at

the end of the number and the zeros that are between
nonzero digits are significant.
e.g: 0.0220 3 significant figures
0.5004 4 significant figures

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 5. Number that do not contain decimal points, the
trailing zeros (zeros after the last nonzero digit)
may or may not be significant
 USE SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

e.g: 400 4 x 102 or 4.0 x 102 or 4.00 x 102

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 Zero used only to locate
the decimal point Nonzero integers
not significant not significant significant

0.004004500
significant significant

Zero between Zero at the end of

nonzero number a no. to the right
of decimal point.
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 Handling significant figures in calculation
 Addition and subtraction
The answer should have the same number of decimal
places as the quantity with the fewest number of
decimal places.
 Multiplication and division
The number of significant figures in the answer should
not be greater than the number of significant figures in
the least precise measurement

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 Q: 125.17 + 129 + 52.2 = ?
Solution:

1 2 5 . 1 7 No digit after the

decimal point
1 2 9
5 2 . 2
3 0 6 . 3 7
Rounded off

Answer: 306

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 Q: 132.56 – 14.1 = ?

Solution:
one digit after the decimal
1 3 2 . 5 6 point
1 4 . 1
1 1 8 . 4 6
Rounded off

Answer: 118.5 (one digit after the decimal point)

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 Q: 8.16 X 5.1355 = ?

SOLUTION

(digit remains the same)

8.16 X 5.1355 = 41.9 0568 41.9 m

Drop digits
Fewest significant
figures (3 s.f)

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 Q: 190.6 X 2.3 = ?

SOLUTION (round off to 4)

(190.6) (2.3) = 43 8.38 440

2 s.f
Drop digits
Fewest significant 4.4 X 102
figures (2 s.f)

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 Exercise
1) 0.225 x 0.0035 x (2.16 x 10-2)
= 0.0364583
= 0.036 @ 3.6 x 10-2

2) 32.44 + 4.9 – 0.304

82.94
one digit after the decimal point
= 37.0
82.94
(3 s.f)
= 0.446 @ 4.46 x 10 -1

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 3) Calculate the average of the two measured lengths 6.64
cm and 6.68 cm.
Ans:

6.64 cm + 6.68 cm = 6.66 cm

2

* Keep in mind that exact numbers obtained from

definitions or by counting numbers of objects can be
considered to have an infinite number of significant
figures.

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 4) 1g
(4.80 x 104 mg)
1000 mg

11 55 cm3

= 4.16 g/cm3 (3 s.f)

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