Significant figures: a measurement that consists of all ...



Significant figures: a measurement that consists of all the digits known with certainty plus one final digit, which is somewhat uncertain or estimated.

Rules for determining significant figures

1. Zeros appearing between nonzero digits are significant.

a. 40.7 L has 3

b. 87,009 km has 5

2. Zeros appearing in front of all nonzero digits are not significant.

a. 0.095897 m has 5

b. 0.0009 kg has 1

3. Zeros at the end of a number and to the right of the decimal point are significant.

a. 85.00 g has 4

b. 9.000000000 mm has 10

4. Zeros at the end of a number but to the left of a decimal point may or may not be significant. If a zero has not been measured or estimated but is just a placeholder, it is not significant. A decimal point placed after zeros indicates they are significant.

a. 2000 m has 1

b. 2000. m has 4

Problems: Determine the number of significant figures

a) 28.6 g g) 0.0144030 km

b) 3440. cm h) 1002 m

c) 910 m i) 400 mL

d) 0.04604 L j) 30,000. cm

e) 0.0067000 kg k) 0.000625000 kg

f) 804.05 g

Scientific Notation: Numbers written in the form of M x 10n, where the factor M is a number greater than or equal to 1 but less than 10 and n is a whole number. (Only significant figures are shown when written this way)

Examples:

125, 348 g = 1.25348 g X 105

0.000526 m = 5.26 m X 10-4

6,380,000 L = 6.38 L X 106

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