Chemistry 6A

Learning Objectives Chapter 1

Reading:
o Read the following sections carefully:
1.2 1.9
o Skim section 1.1
o Skip section 1.10
What is chemistry?
What are the three different levels at which chemists look at
materials? How do they differ from one another?
Scientific methods include what steps/features? How is this an
iterative process? What does this say about the nature of scientific
knowledge?
What is quantitative data? What is qualitative data? How are they
similar? How are they different?
What are the two parts of any measurement?
You should know the metric base units (and their symbols) for volume,
mass, length, and temperature.
You need to memorize the metric equalities on slides 33 and 34 (refer
to Table 1.2). You should be aware that these equalities can be used
with any base unit. (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!!). You also should
memorize Celsius to Kelvin conversion and the fact that 1 mL = 1 cm3.
I will provide English to metric conversions on the test.
You need to be able to use conversion factors to convert from one unit
to another (you need to show how your units cancel out using
dimensional analysis). Make sure you also know how to convert
between units that are squared or cubed.
What is density? You should be able to calculate density when given
mass and volume (or a way to calculate these values). You should also
be able to use density as a conversion factor to solve for density, mass,
or volume, given the other two variables.
What do we mean when we say that all measurements have
uncertainty?
Can you use a measuring device to make a proper, scientific
measurement?
What are significant figures?
Why are they important in the
calculations we do in chemistry?
Can you look at a number and determine how many significant figures
it has? (Be careful with the zeros!)
What are the rules for determining the number of significant figures
in the end result of a calculation? You should be able to report the
result of a calculation to the correct number of significant figures.

What are accuracy and precision? If I give you a list of numbers and
an accepted value for a measurement, can you decide if the numbers
are accurate and/or precise?