Dr.

Hanee Farzana Hizaddin

hanee@um.edu.my

Department of Chemical Engineering

University of Malaya

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At the end of this class, you should be able to

Convert between various units

SI units With special emphasis on

 molar amount
 pressure
 temperature
 the ideal gas law
American
cgs units
engineering system

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 Example: Only terms with the same units can be
 A correlation between the height added or subtracted
and the mass of people:

M = 23.4 h 2 − 5.4 h + 2.5  Every term must have the units of

M, i.e. kg
where  Units for the 1st coefficient:
 M = mass in kg
 h = height in m [23.4h ] = kg
2

kg kg
What are the units for the coefficients [23.4] = =
in the correlation? [h 2 ] m 2
 Attempt the remaining terms

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 In arithmetic operations, treat units like algebraic variables:
12 ft − 7 ft = 5 ft 12𝑥𝑥 − 7𝑥𝑥 = 5𝑥𝑥

12 ft − 7 cm = ? ? ? 12𝑥𝑥 − 7𝑦𝑦 =? ? ?

5 ft × 3 lbm = 15 ft∙lbm (5𝑥𝑥 × 3𝑦𝑦 = 15𝑥𝑥𝑥𝑥) Units on the

2
LHS must
3s = 9 s2 3𝑥𝑥 2
= 9𝑥𝑥 2 equal units
on the RHS!!
9.0 kg
= 3 𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑𝑑 𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞𝑞
3.0 kg

miles 𝑥𝑥
55 × 3 h = 165 miles 55 × 3𝑦𝑦 = 165𝑥𝑥
h 𝑦𝑦

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“translation” of engineering language

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 Quantity SI Others
Length 2.54 cm 1”
0.3048 m 1 ft (or 1’) = 12”
Mass 1 kg 2.205 lbm
Temperature 1oC change 1.8oF change
1K change 1.8oR change
Force 4.45 N 1 lbf ≈ 32.174 lbmft/s2
Pressure 101 325 Pa 1 atm = 760 mmHg ≈ 14.7 psi
= 1.01325 bar

Energy 4.1868 J 1 cal

1 kJ 0.9478 Btu
Power 0.746 kW 1 hp
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Convert (150.0 ft) to cm:

Given: 1 ft ≡ 0.3048 m; and 1 m ≡ 100 cm

Correct to how many sig. fig.?

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https://padlet.com/hanee_hizaddin/Lecture2

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Example: Convert 30 m3/h into cfm

cubic feet
per minute!

Given: 1 ft ≡ 0.3048 m; and 1 h ≡ 60 min

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m3 m3 h ft ft 3
30 = 30 �=
h h min m min

Correct to how many sig. fig.?

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Convert 0.02562 g�in/min2 to ton�miles/week2

Conversion factor:

1 ton = _____ kg = _____ g

1 mile =_____ ft = _____ in

1 week = _____ days = _____ hours = _____ min

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  Solution:
 Example:
 Express all existing quantities in
 The concentration of methanol the new quantities:
in a reactor varies with time as
follows:
c = 4.5 exp(− 0.063t )

where
 c is in molarity
 t is in minutes  Substitute into the original
equation:
The client requires c to be in
kg/L and t in hours. Do the
necessary.
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 Molar amount of material
 Pressure
 Temperature
 Quantities from the ideal gas law

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 Mole’ is actually ‘gmole’, e.g.  This allows molecular weights
 12 g C = 1 gmole C = 1 mole C be expressed in other units
where convenient, e.g.
 If we raise it by 1000 times, 16 g 16 kg 16 lb m
 For CH4: = =
 12 kg C = 1 kgmole C = 1 kmole mole kmole lbmole
C

 What is the mass of 100. lbmole

 If we use other units, we define of HCN in kg?
similarly
 12 tonne C = 1 tmole of C
 12 lbm C = 1 lbmole C
 12 ounce C = 1 ounce mole C
or any other
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fanciful units!
 How to derive the key unit  1 atm = ? psi (lbf/in2)
conversion factors (when
you forget!):  Convert the basic units first

P = hρg
 Height of water vs pressure?
 1 atmosphere equals to …  Introduce the definition of pound-
force:
N 1kgms −2
101325 2
P m 1N
h= ≈ ≈ 10.3m H 2 O
ρg  3 kg  m
 10 3 
9.81 2   Convert ft2 to in2:
 m  s 

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  Human psychology:
Add a pressure gauge (meter) here!

 “0” ⇒ “no pressure”

(pump not running)
How does the
operator know if this
pump is running?  We are rarely aware of
atmospheric pressure

 To reduce mistakes,
pressure readings often
remove Patm, i.e.

http://www.suggestkeyword.com/Y2VudHJpZnVnYWwgcHVtcA/
accessed 07 Sep 2015 Pmeter = Pabsolute – Patm

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  More human psychology …
 Pressure gauges (meters) that
show zero reading at atmospheric
pressure give the “gauge  Which one is easier to imagine
pressure”: and to read?
 101.325 kPa
Pgauge = Pabsolute – Patm  14.7 psia or “pounds”

 34 ft H2O
0
-1  1 atmosphere or “1 a t m”
“g” for
“gauge”  1 bar

0 barg –1 barg
Atmospheric Absolute vacuum Not exact, but
 is easy to use and
 makes little difference at low pressures

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 These require
 Remember these scales: 

T (K ) = T ( o C ) + 273.15
K oC oF oR
T ( o R ) = T ( o F ) + 459.67
273.15 100 212 459.67
+100 +212
 Derive this:
1K 1 oC 1 1 The Fahrenheit
oF oR
gap is smaller T ( o F ) = 1.8T ( o C ) + 32
273.15 0 32

0 459.67

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Other than temperature itself,
virtually all other quantities
that involve units of
temperature imply ∆T.
 Example: convert the
units of the specific
heat capacity of
water to kcal/kg.oF :

 For temperature
changes: 4.2
kJ
= 4.2
kJ K ℃ kcal
kg.K kg.K ℃ ℉ kJ

 1 K = 1oC
 1oR = 1oF
 1oC = 1.8oF
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  AtSTP, one mole of an
 Rearranging to give the ideal gas occupies
universal gas constant: about 22.4L, what is a
R=
PV possible value of R?
nT

It can have
many possible
units!

At least remember one

value, e.g. 8.314 kJ/kmol.K

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 For an ideal gas,
how do you convert
its volumetric flow
rate (at T and P) to
that at standard
conditions (at To and
Po)?

 Solution:

 The molar flow rate You must be comfortable

remains the same at
both conditions moving in between these two
volumetric flow rates
Key idea!

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 For an ideal gases  The
mole fractions of
at a given P and T: species-k is then given by

P, T
PVk
n1 , n 2 , n 3 … nk RT
xk = =
∑r n r  P ∑ Vr 
PVk  RT r 
nk = Volume
RT occupied Vk
= = volume fraction
Moles of
by species k
∑ Vr
species k r

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 The 3 key steps to convert units correctly are:
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 write units as numerator and denominator

 multiply by suitable powers of the conversion factors 2 2

2
 simplify the numbers

 The common quantities that require extra care with units are:
 molar amount
 pressure: gauge or absolute
 temperature, temperature difference
 those involving the ideal gas law, e.g. flow rates, volume fractions

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