GENERAL CHEMISTRY 1

What is Significant Figures?

The digits that are considered in a measurement taken,

whether with a great degree of certainty or with little
certainty.
 Rules of Significant Figures
1. All nonzero digits are significant.
This means that numbers from 1 to 9 are significant figures

Example : 3556 m has four significant figures

Example : 123786 has six significant figures

2. Zeros between nonzero digits are significant.

Example : 900 008 km has six significant figures
Example : 706 098 009 Nm has nine significant figures
 3. Zeros to the right of a decimal are significant.

Example : 1. 000000 kJ has seven significant figures

Example : 897. 00 Mb has five significant figures

4. Zeros to the left of nonzero digits are not significant but are used to
indicate the position of the decimal point.

Example : 0. 000000008 cd has one significant figures

Example : 0.00734 pL has three significant figures

5. When a number ends in zero(s) , the zero(s) could be significant .

Example : 709 000 m has three significant figures

* Indicating the decimal point would make the zeros significant.
Example : 709 000. m has six significant figures
* Drawing a bar on top of the zero(s) could make it significant.

Example : 709 000 m has five significant figures.

 Operations with Significant Figures

• When handling experimental data, you need to follow certain rules

So that the correct number of significant figures is express in the
Result.
• Processing of data involves operations of addition, subtraction,
multiplication and division.
 Addition/Subtraction

When numbers are added or subtracted, the number of decimal

places in the final answer should be equal to the smallest
number of decimal places of any of the measured quantities.

Example1: Get the perimeter of the surface of an unknown

object if its sides as follows:
64. 00 m, 50.005 and 34. 0 m. Follow the rules in SF

Solution: The measurement that has the least number of

significant figures in the decimal place is 34.0, and it has only 1
SF after the decimal place. The sum should have only 1
significant figures after the decimal point. Therefore, instead of
writing 148. 005 m as the sum , the final answer should be
148. 0 m .
Example 2: Two strips of cloth were found to have the same
widths but different lengths. Find the difference if the red strip
measures 123, 20 yd and the blue strips measures 98. 007 yd.

Solution: The measurement with the fewer number of decimal

places is that of the red strip because it has only 2 SF after the
decimal point, as compared to that of the blue strip that has 3 SF
after the decimal point. Therefore, the difference should have 2
SF after the decimal point. Instead of 23.193 yd, the final answer
becomes 25.19 yd.
 Multiplication /Division

When multiplying several quantities, the number of significant

figures in the final answer is the same as the term with the least
number of significant figures. The same rules applies to division.

Example 1: Determine the area of a table with length of 10.2 cm

and a width of 11cm .
Solution: The measurement with the least number of significant
figures is 11cm. It has 2 SF . Thus, the product should also
contain 2SF. The product is 112.2 cm2
Because the result should have 2SF only, the final answer should
be 110 cm2
You can also express it in scientific notation as 1.1 x 10 2 cm 2.
Example 2: Determine the height of a box if it has a capacity of
212 cm3 and its base has an area of 20.04 cm2 .

Solution: Volume is simply the product of the area of the base

and the height. Thus, to get the height , divide the volume by the
area of the base. The quotient will be 10.57884232 cm. the
measurement with the least number of significant figures is that
of the volume (212 cm3 ), because it has only 3 SF. Therefore, the
quotient should have 3 SF. The final answer should be 10.6cm.
 Density of Solids and Liquids

Density- (d) is a temperature- dependent physical

quantity that is specific to pure substances and is
specifically defined as the mass (m) per unit volume (v).
Units of densities are expressed in g/ cm3 for solids, and
g/mL or g/L for liquids. Mathematically, density is
expressed as:

d=m
v