Recap:

1. Are the following physical or chemical properties?

shape, corrosion, attraction to magnets.
2. Are the following intensive or extensive properties?:
brittleness, lustre , weight,
3. Indicate whether the following statements describe a physical
or a chemical change.
bread dough rising , milk souring, nail polish remover
evaporating
4. Classify each of the following as an element, a compound, or
a mixture (homo or hetero).
Tap water, chicken spice, dry ice, S8
Introduction to Measurements
• A measurement tells us about a property of
something.
• It might tell us how heavy an object is, or how
hot, or how long it is.
• A measurement gives a number to that property.
• Different instruments enable us to measure
different substances’ properties.
For example:
• a meter stick/ruler: length
• burette, pipette, graduated cylinder, beakers
and volumetric flasks: volume
• the balance: mass
• Thermometer: temperature
• the clock: time, etc.
A measured quantity is usually written as a
number with an appropriate unit.
• e.g.‘How long is it? ... 2 metres.’
• Measurements without units are meaningless, e.g.
to say that the flight time between Windhoek and
Walvis bay is 40, is meaningless.
• We must specify that the flight time is 40 min.
SI Units
• In order for people around the world to agree on
quantitative observations, a system of
measurement was defined.
• The international authority on units proposed a
revised metric system called the International
System of Units (SI Units).
 SI base units
Base Quantity SI Unit Name Symbol

Length Meter m
Mass Kilogram kg
Time Second s
Temperature Kelvin K
Amount of substance Mole mol
Electrical current Ampere A
Volume Cubic meter m3
• All other units of measurements can be derived
from these SI units. Below are few examples of
derived units:
Quantity Dimension SI unit
Area Length × length m2
m ×m
Velocity/speed Length/time m/s
m/s
Density Mass/volume kg/m3
kg/m3
Prefixes are used to express very small or very large
quantities. The table below shows the prefixes used
with the SI units:
Exercise:

a) 103 grams = 1_____grams (kilo)

b) 2x10-3 meters = 2______meters (milli)

a) 2.6 x 10-1 L = 2.6______L (deci)

b) 1 gigajoules = 1 x ___ joules ( 1 × 10 9)

c) 9 µm = 9 x ____m ( 9 × 10 -6)

d) 1 ng = 1 x ______g ( 1 × 10 -9)
 Standard notation
• Standard notation is the normal way of writing
numbers.

Examples:

a) 12510
b) 0.0253
c) 2500.
d) 105.00
 The scientific notation
• Chemists often deal with extremely small or
extremely large numbers. For example in 1 g of H
there are roughly
602,200,000,000,000,000, 000,000 H atoms,
and each H atom has a mass of only
0.00000000000000000000000166 g
• These numbers are too cumbersome to handle and
one can easily make mistakes. Hence the
scientific notation is used to handle this numbers.
• It is an expression of a number using powers of
10 in the form: N × 10n

• N is the number between 1 and 10, and n is a

positive or negative integer (whole number).

• For example the number of H atoms in 1 g is

expressed as 6.022 x 1023 atoms and the mass of a
single hydrogen atom is expressed as
1. 66 ×10-24 g.
• Also, expressing 789.234 g in scientific notation gives
7.89234 x 102 g.

• While expressing 0.000251 mL in scientific notation

gives 2.51 x 10-4 mL.

Uncertainty in measurements
• It is impossible to obtain exact numbers in measurements
unless in cases when all the numbers involved are whole
numbers (e.g. in counting).
• Thus all other measurements are approximations, no
measuring device can give perfect measurements.
In the sketch below, we need to estimate the tenths place

17._______ mL?
Below are two measurements of the mass of the same
object described at two different levels of precision or
certainty
 Accuracy and Precision

• All measurement carry a degree of uncertainty.

• Uncertainty can be a result of human error or due

to the error associated with the measuring device
(e.g. an un-calibrated balance).
• Degree of error determines whether the
measurement is precise or accurate.
Accuracy:- is the closeness of a measurement to
the true or actual value of the quantity that was
measured (requires prior knowledge about the true
value).

Precision:- closeness of the repeated

measurement (does not require knowledge of the
true value of the measurement).
Reliability of measurements…
4. a) Who is more precise when measuring a
book that has a true length of 17.0 cm? b) Who
is accurate?
Susan: 17.0 cm, 16.0 cm, 18.0 cm, 15.0 cm
Amy:: 15.5 cm, 15.0 cm, 15.2 cm, 15.3 cm

a) Amy
b) Susan
 Temperature scales
• Temperature is an intensive property and it is
used to measure the degree of hotness of a
substance.
• There are currently three temperature scales in
use. They are:

- The Fahrenheit scale (°F)

- The Celsius scale (°C)
- And the Kelvin scale (K)
The three standard temperature scales
• Kelvin is the SI base unit of temperature and it is
the absolute temperature scale (meaning zero
Kelvin is the lowest temperature that can be
obtained theoretically!).

• The Kelvin scale defines the freezing point and the

boiling point of water to be 273 K and 373 K,
respectively.

• The Fahrenheit scale defines the normal freezing

point and boiling point of water to be exactly 32°F
and 212°F respectively.
• The Celsius scale defines the freezing point of
water to be 0 °C and the boiling point of water to
be 100 °C.

• It is possible to convert from one scale to another

using the following formulas:
•1.  Converting from to

E.g. Convert: 100.0 to

= 37.8

2. Converting from to :

E.g. Convert: 25 to
= 77
•3.  Converting from to

E.g. Convert: 37.0

37.0

= 37.0-
•   Exercises
1. Oxygen has a boiling point of 90.2 K. What is the
temperature in:
a) Fahrenheit. -297.3

b) Degrees Celcius -183.0

•   Density Calculations
• Density is an important intensive property, which
can be used to help determine the identity of an
unknown substance.

• It is a measure of how much mass is present in a

given unit of volume. The formula is shown
below:
or
•E.g. 
  A student determines that a piece of an
unknown material has a mass of 5.854 g and a
volume of 7.57 cm3. What is the density of the
material, rounded to the correct number of
significant digits?
•E.g.2. 
  Copper has a known density of 8.96 g/cm 3. 
What would be the mass of a 1.50 L piece of
copper? 
, then

 
Exercises:
When a 25.4 g piece of chromium metal was
placed into a graduated cylinder containing
25.0 mL, the water level rose to 28.6 mL.

Calculate the density of chromium in

a) g/mL
b) b) kg/m3
c) c) g/L
a) 7.1 g/mL b) 7.1 ×103kg/m3 c) 7.1 ×103g/ L
 Dimensional analysis or factor label method

• For measurements to be meaningful, the results

must be expressed in desired units.
• Method used to convert between units is the factor
label method or the dimensional analysis.
• Conversion/unit factors used to convert one unit
into the other.
• Conversion factors show relationship between
units for example 1 N$ = 100 cents.
This can be written as:

N $ 1.00 100 cents

or
100 cents N $ 1.00
• To
  decide what should be up or down depends on
what you are starting with. Thus to convert 20
cents in to N$, using the dimensional analysis,
proceed as follows:

• Converting N$ 1.50 cents proceed as follows:

•  Acertain drug is delivered through an IV at
a rate of 83.3 g/s. What is this rate in
mg/min?

First find the unit factors!

1 mg = 1000 and 1 min = 60 s

83.3 = 5.00 mg/min

•Challenge:
 
If an old lady is driving 98.3 kilometers/hour, will
she get a speeding ticket if the speed limit is 55
miles / hour?
[USE: 5280 feet = 1 mile, 1ft = 12. in, and 2.54
cm = 1.00 inch]. Show your working.

98.3 =

Ans: 61.1 mi/h

 Significant figures:
• The term significant figures refers to
digits that were measured.

• When rounding calculated numbers, we

pay attention to significant figures so we
do not overstate the accuracy of our
answers.
Guidelines for using significant figures:

1. Non-zero integers are always significant.

example: 23.4 g and 234 g both have 3 SF.

2. Captive zeroes, those bound on both sides by

non-zero integers, are always significant.
example: 20.05 has 4 SF; 407 has 3 SF
 3. Leading zeros, those not bound on the left by
non-zero integers are never significant.

• Such zeros just set the decimal point; they

always disappear if the number is expressed in
scientific notation.

Example: 0.04 has 1 SF; 0.00035 has 2 SF. They

can be written as
4 x 10-2 and 3.5 x 10-4 respectively.
4. Trailing zeros, those bound only on
the left by non-zero integers may or may
not be significant

example: 45.0 L has 3 SF

450. L has 3 SF
450 L may have 2 or 3 SF.
 Note: To clarify whether a trailing zero is
significant, it is preferable to express the final
answer in scientific notation.
Example: 450 L can be expressed as 4.5 x 102 or
4.50 x 102. In the case where trailing zeros end
with a full stop, then they are always significant
e.g. 450. has 3 SF.

5. Exact numbers are those not obtained by

measurement but by definition or by counting
numbers of objects.
• They are assumed to have an unlimited
number of significant figures.
• So they are not considered in the
determination of significant figures in
calculations.

• Definitions (conversion factors) are

examples of exact numbers.
E.g. 1 inch = 2.54 cm.
1 m = 100 cm
Handling significant figures in
calculations

1. When adding or subtracting:

• Express the answer in the smallest number
of decimal points present in the original
operation.

Examples: a) 1.25 + 0. 21743 = 1.47

b) 2.09 – 1.2 = 0.9
 2. During multiplication or division
• The product or quotient carries the number
of SF equivalent to the smallest number of
SF in the original operation.
• Examples:
1.356 x 1.5 = 2.0

6.85 ÷ 112.04 = 0.0611

How many significant figures are in the
following reported measurements?

a) 0.004020
b) 4.200
c) 4.02
d) 400.

a) 4 b) 4 c)3 d) 3
•Carry
  out the following operations and express
each answer to correct number of significant
figures and units.
a) 5.6792 m + 4.33 m + 0.6 m
b) 3.70 g – 2.9133 g
c) 56.937 g ÷ 0.23 mL
d) 4.51 cm 3.6666 cm

a) 10.6 m b) 0.79 g c) 2.5 × 102 g/mL d) 16.5 cm2