High School Physics : Introductory Principles

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for High School Physics

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Example Questions

Example Question #1 : Understanding Significant Figures

How many significant figures should be in the solution to the given equation?

Possible Answers:

Two

Six

One

Three

Zero

Correct answer:

One

Explanation:

Leading and trailing zeroes are not considered significant. To make this problem simpler, we may want to re-write the equation in scientific notation.

The first term still has three digits, all of which are significant. The second term, however, has been reduced to only one digit. Our term with the fewest significant figures determines how many significant figures should be in the solution. In this case, there would only be one significant figure in the solution.

Example Question #8 : Understanding Significant Figures

Which of the following numbers contains the greatest number of significant figures?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Significant figures are used to round scientific calculations in order to preserve precision. Every initial measurement will carry some degree of uncertainty or variation. It is important to carry that uncertainty to the final calculation, instead of unintentionally assigning greater certainty to the given values.

When determining significant figures, any zeroes that precede the first non-zero digit are considered insignificant and any zeroes that follow the final non-zero digit are considered insignificant. Any and all non-zero digits are significant. Sometimes it can help to write a number in scientific notation to identify significant figures.

Example Question #3 : Understanding Significant Figures

Which of the following answers does not have the correct number of significant figures associated with it?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Significant figures are used to round scientific calculations in order to preserve precision. Every initial measurement will carry some degree of uncertainty or variation. It is important to carry that uncertainty to the final calculation, instead of unintentionally assigning greater certainty to the given values.

When determining significant figures, any zeroes that precede the first non-zero digit are considered insignificant and any zeroes that follow the final non-zero digit are considered insignificant. Any and all non-zero digits are significant. Sometimes it can help to write a number in scientific notation to identify significant figures.

Example Question #4 : Understanding Significant Figures

Which of the following answers has the correct number of significant figures associated with it?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Significant figures are used to round scientific calculations in order to preserve precision. Every initial measurement will carry some degree of uncertainty or variation. It is important to carry that uncertainty to the final calculation, instead of unintentionally assigning greater certainty to the given values.

When determining significant figures, any zeroes that precede the first non-zero digit are considered insignificant and any zeroes that follow the final non-zero digit are considered insignificant. Any and all non-zero digits are significant. Sometimes it can help to write a number in scientific notation to identify significant figures.

Example Question #11 : Understanding Significant Figures

A car travels at a rate of  for . How far does the car travel?

Your answer must include the appropriate number of significant figure.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

When deciding how many significant figures your answer should have, base it off the given value with the fewest significant figures. In this case, the velocity has two significant figures and the time has three; therefore, our answer should have only two significant figures in order to match the least precise given value (velocity).

We can calculate our answer using the formula for velocity.

Rounded to two significant figures, we can say that the car travels .

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