High School Chemistry : Using Significant Figures

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for High School Chemistry

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Example Questions

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Example Question #61 : High School Chemistry

Which of the following numbers has 4 significant figures?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

For scientific notation, the exponent next to the ten has nothing to do with significant figures; it's the decimal number before it that determines the number of significant figures. Based on those decimal numbers,   and  each have one significant figure, and  has three significant figures. When dealing with non-decimal numbers, zeros only count if they are in between two non-zero numbers. That means that 1,340 only has three significant figures, and 1,001 has 4 significant figures.

Example Question #31 : Scientific Notation And Significant Figures

Answer the following problem using the correct number of significant figures.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Whenever multiplying, the final answer will have the same number of significant figures as the number with the least least number of significant figures in the question. 130.5 has 4 significant figures and 12 has 2 significant figures, that means that our answer must have 2 significant figures. , but that's 4 significant figures instead of 2. So we need to round this to 2 significant figures. Our answer to the correct number of significant figures is 1600.

Example Question #23 : Using Significant Figures

Answer the following using the correct number of significant figures.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

When adding numbers, the answer should use the the least number of decimal places of those in the question. 14.1 has one decimal place (one number behind the decimal), 12 has no decimal places, and 5.634 has 3 decimal places; this means that the answer must have no decimal places. , this must be rounded to zero decimal places. Thus we round up to 32.

Example Question #61 : Measurements

You are doing an experiment and are measuring how the pressure changes of a gas in a container which you are changing the volume. You have the gas in a small cylinder that has mL markings. The pressure sensor has a high precision and can display pressures of . You will be changing the volume by 1 mL for every data pair and recording the pressure. Your first data pair you write down is when you have a volume of  which gives a pressure of . If you write down  for your volume, what is the appropriate number of significant figures to use for your first pressure measurement?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Notice that the most precise you can get with your volume measurement is  and your recorded value has 3 significant figures. You must take no more than 3 significant figures for your pressure measurement even if the device is more precise than this (which it is). Your recorded value must be

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