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LESSON 2
MEASUREMENTS IN CHEMISTRY

INTRODUCTION
The study of chemistry is meaningless without measurement. As chemistry is
known as an experimental science, laboratory experiments usually involve measuring
quantities like mass, volume, temperature, or pressure. The results of these experiments
largely depend on the reliability of such quantitative measurements.

As we begin our journey into chemistry, learning the proper expression of quantities
is a necessary fundamental skill so that errors can be avoided.

LESSON PROPER

A. Accuracy and Precision

While doing an experiment, you may ask: Are my measurements accurate or

precise? You think that the terms accuracy and precision mean the same thing, but they
do not.

Accuracy refers to the degree to which the result of a measurement conforms to

the true or standard value of the quantity measured. Precision, on the other hand, refers
to how close two or more measurements are to each other.

For example, given the following two sets of measurements:

A B
1st trial: 49.05 cm 20.45 cm
2nd trial: 49.01 cm 50.76 cm
3rd trial: 48.95 cm 60.95 cm

You will notice that A has data that agree with each other. It means that there is
high precision. However, high precision does not necessarily mean high accuracy. In the
given example, if the true value is 80.00 cm, then the measurements in A are with high
precision but with poor accuracy. In B, the measurements show low precision and poor
accuracy.
The example of a darts board is often used when talking about the difference
between accuracy and precision. Think of the bulls-eye (center) of a dartboard as the
true value. The closer darts land to the bulls-eye, the more accurate they are.

Figure 2. Difference between accuracy and precision

Source: https://www.portaspecs.com/precision-and-accuracy/
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Experimental error is defined as the difference between an experimental value and the
actual value of a quantity. This difference indicates the accuracy of the measurement.
The percent error is the ratio of the error to the actual value multiplied by 100.

% error = difference between the experimental value and actual value x 100
actual value

It is important that our experiments are both precise and accurate. Often, accuracy
is hard to determine in real experiments – we don’t always know what the answer “should
be”. If you have no “known value” to compare your answer to, you cannot calculate the
difference of the experimental and actual value. If you are able to calculate it, then you
should use it to test the accuracy of your experiment. If you find that your percent
difference is more than 5%, there is likely something wrong with your experiment and
you should figure out what the problem is and take new data.

Example 1. Suppose a student is asked to determine the density of a sample of ethyl

alcohol at 200C (standard value is 0.781 g/ml). After 3 trials, the following measurements
were noted.

Trial 1 0.782 g/ml

2 0.778 g/ml
3 0.780 g/ml

Average = 0.782 + 0.778 + 0.780

3
= 0.780 g/ml

The group of measurements has a good precision, noting the closeness of the
values to each other. Comparing the average of the experimental values to the standard
value of 0.781 g/ml for ethyl alcohol at 200C shows that the group of measurements has
good accuracy.

B. Scientific Notation

Scientists often deal with very small or very large numbers. For convenience in
calculation, you can transform these numbers into exponential or scientific notation.

Scientific notation is a way to express numbers as the product of two numbers:

a decimal number between 1 and 10 and the number 10 raised to a power. The general
form of writing a number in scientific notation is:

a × 10 n where 1 ≤ a ≤ 10 and n is any integer. The number a which known

as coefficient must be greater than 1 and less than 10.

An example of scientific notation is 2.5 x 106 which is equivalent to expressing the

number as 2500000. In this example, 2.5 is the coefficient.
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• To convert a number to scientific notation, place or move the decimal point of a

number until the coefficient of the number is greater than 1 and less than 10.
• Record down the coefficient (a) and count the number of steps the decimal point
was moved.
• The number of steps moved (n) is taken as the exponent.
• Moving the decimal point to the right gives a negative exponent, whereas moving
the decimal point to the left makes a positive exponent.

Example 1: Convert 3,400,000 into scientific notation.

• Place a decimal by counting the steps to the left until the coefficient of the number
is between 1 and 10. Count the number of steps moved. This will be the power of
the base 10.
• In this case, the coefficient is 3.4 and the 6 steps are moved. Multiply the
coefficient by 106. Therefore, the answer is 3. 4 x 10 6.

Example 2. Convert 0. 00041 into scientific notation.

• Move the decimal point to the right until you find the coefficient to be greater than
1 and less than 10. The coefficient is therefore, 4.1 and the steps moved are 4.
• Multiply the coefficient with the base: 4.1 x 10-4. The negative exponent indicates
that, we moved to the right. Thus, the answer is 4.1 x 10-4.

C. Significant Figures

• Significant figures are those digits in an experimentally measured quantity that

contribute to the degree of accuracy of the value.

• When you take a measurement or use one in calculation, you must know the
numbers of digits that are significant.

Rules for determining if a number is significant or not

Rule Examples of Number of

Measurement Significant Figures
1. All non-zero digits are 53.26 g 4
considered significant. 2.83 ml 3
0.48 L 2
2. Zeros appearing between 1004 sec 4
two non-zero digits are 102.12 K 5
significant.
3. All zeros to the right of a 2.0 m 2
decimal point and to the 295.00 L 5
right of a nonzero digit are 45.70 cm 4
significant.
4. When a number ends in 50 g 1
zeros or the zeros to the 543000 mm 3
right of a nonzero digit are
not significant.
5. Zeros to the left of 0.023 km 2
nonzero digits and to the 0.00008 mg 1
right of a decimal point are
not significant.
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6. In number less than 1, 0.5 ml 1

the zero to the left of the 0.650 kg 3
decimal is not significant.

Examples:
Give the number of significant figures in each measurement.
a) 36.7 m b) 0.006606 s
c) 2,002 kg d) 306,490,000 mi

Answers:
a). 3 significant figures (applying rule #1)
b). 4 significant figures (rule #5 and #2)
c). 4 significant figures (rule #2)
d). 5 significant figures (rule #2 and rule #4)

Significant Figures in Calculations

The two rules in arithmetic calculations are:

• For multiplication and division, the product and quotient contain the same number
of significant figures as there are in the measurements with the fewest significant
figures.

Example 1: What is the product of 6.3 and 4.1?

6.35 x 4.1 = 26.035
But since the lower number of significant figures in the given problem is two
(4.1), so the reported final answer is 26.

Example 2: Divide 28.52 by 3.6.

28.52 ÷ 3.6 = 7.9222, reported as 7.9

• For addition and subtraction, the sum or difference has the same number of
decimal places as there are in the measurement with the fewest decimal places.

Example: What is the total volume of the solution after adding 23.24 ml of water
from a burette to 83.4 ml of solution in a beaker.
83.4 ml + 23.24 ml = 106.64 ml
The answer is 106.64 ml, but you report the volume as 106.6 ml because the
measurement with fewer decimal places (83.4 ml) has one decimal place.

D. Rounding Off Numbers

You usually need to round off the final answer to the proper number of
significant figures or decimal places.
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• Rounding off numbers means making a number simpler but keeping its value close
to what it was. The result will be an estimated answer rather than a precise one.

Rules for Rounding Off Numbers

(Metcalfe, et.al, 1990 as cited by Monserate, et.al, 2002)

If the digit immediately to the Then the last significant digit Example (each rounded off to
right of the last significant should: 3 significant figures)
digit you want to retain is

1. greater than 5 Be increased by 1 94. 27= 94.3

2. less than 5 Stay the same 94.24 = 94.2

3. 5, followed by Be increased by 1 94.251 = 94.3

nonzero digits

4. 5, not followed by
nonzero digits and
preceded by
a. odd number Be increased by 1 94.35 = 94.4
b. even number Stay the same 94.25 = 94.2

Examples:
Round the following to the indicated number of significant figures:
a) 0.424 (to two significant figures)
b) 0.0038661 (to three significant figures)
c) 421.25 (to four significant figures)
d) 28,683.5 (to five significant figures)

Answers:
a) 0.42 b) 0.00387 c) 421.2 d) 28,684

References
Mendoza, E. and Religioso, T. (2000). Chemistry (2nd edition). Quezon City, Metro Manila: Phoenix
Publishing House, Inc.

Monserate, J.J., Salazar, J.R., Cardenas, C.D. & Estañol, E.L., (2002). Chemistry The Science Where
Matter Matters. Valenzuela City: Mutya Publishing House.

Silberberg, M.S. (2012). Chemistry. United State of America: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.