Middle School Chemistry Notes

Molarity, Mass, Volume, Density, pH/pOH, Significant Digits & Conversions

1
T E R M S
Molarity (M) is defined as the ratio of the number of moles of solute (the material dissolved) per liter of
solution. It is used to express the concentration of a solution.

Mass (M) is defined as the amount of matter an object has. It is expressed in units of weight such as g, kg, or
lb.

Volume (V) is defined as the amount of 3-D space an object occupies.

Density (D) of an object is defined as its mass per unit volume.

pH measures the power of Hydrogen or rather is a measure, on a scale of 0-14, of the amount of hydronium
(H
3
O
+
) ions in a solution. Note, sometimes we write H
3
O
+
as H
+
for short.

pOH measures the power of hydroxide (OH
-
), or rather is a measure of the amount of hydroxide ions in a
solution.

Acids on a pH scale are solutions with a pH< 7. Some characteristics of acids are sour taste, reacts with metal
to form hydrogen gas, increases the H
+
concentration in water, donates H
+
ions, and turns litmus paper red.
Solutions with a pH < 7 are said to be acidic.

Bases on a pH scale are solutions with a pH > 7. Some characteristics of bases are bitter taste, slippery feel,
increases the OH
-
concentration in water, accepts OH
-
ions, turns litmus indicator blue. Solutions with a pH > 7
are said to be alkaline or basic.


I M P O R T A N T F O R M U L A E

Information You Want Information You Have
Formula to
Use
pH
concentration of hydroxide
[H
+
]
pH=-log[H
+
]
concentration of hydroxide
[H
+
]
pH [H
+
]=1x10
-pH

pOH
concentration of hydronium
[OH
-
]
pOH=-log[OH
-
]
concentration of hydronium
[OH
-
]
pOH [OH
-
]=1x10
-pOH



Middle School Chemistry Notes
Molarity, Mass, Volume, Density, pH/pOH, Significant Digits & Conversions
2
Information
You Want
Information You Have
Formula to
Use
density (D) mass (M) & volume (V) D=M/V
mass (M) density (D) & volume (V) M=DV
volume (V) density (D) & mass (M) V=M/D



U N I T S

pH and pOH are scale measurements, so they do not have units

concentration of H
+
/H3O+ and OH
-
are measured in moles (M)
o remember that [H
+
] and [OH
-
] is how you say concentration of.
! the brackets indicate concentration

density (D) is measured in units of mass (for practical purposes, weight, such as g) over volume (usually
something like mL/cm
3
)

mass (M) is measured in units of weight (g, kg, lb, etc.)

volume (V) is measured in units of cubic measurement (cm
3
, m
3
, etc.)


S C A L E S



Middle School Chemistry Notes
Molarity, Mass, Volume, Density, pH/pOH, Significant Digits & Conversions
3

S I G N I F I C A N T D I G I T S

When considering the number of digits that you should keep or round to, you must first know some
basic information about the significance of numbers:
o 8.29314 has six significant digits as each number tells us important information about a
measurement

o 2000 has one significant digit, the 2 as the zeros dont tell us anything about whats in the
hundreds, tens, or ones place (you could have rounded to 2000, for example) however
! 2000.0 has five significant digits as the .0 tells us that each of the zeros before the
decimal have a true value of zero.

o 0.0049 has only two significant digits, the 4 and the 9, because the others are all just
placeholders

o 2004 has four significant digits because both the 2 and the 4 are interesting and so we count
the zeroes in between

o 4220 has three significant digits as the last zero is just a placeholder

o 440. has three significant digits as the decimal point tells us that the last zero was a measurement
made to the nearest unit

o 440.0 has four significant digits as the last zero tells us the measurement was made to that place

If you are asked to make measurements that are accurate to a certain place, heres some helpful info:
o 0.0049 is accurate to the thousandths place

o 1000 is accurate to the thousands place

o 1000.0 is accurate to the tenths place

Some basic rules to remember:
o all nonzero digits are significant

o all zeroes between significant digits are significant

o all zeroes which are both to the right of the decimal point and to the right of all non-zero
significant digits are themselves significant







Middle School Chemistry Notes
Molarity, Mass, Volume, Density, pH/pOH, Significant Digits & Conversions
4
C O N V E R S I O N F A C T O R S

prefix numerical meaning symbol
deci 1/10 d
centi 1/100 c
milli 1/1,000 m
micro 1/10,000
nano 1/1,000,000,000 n
pico 1/1,000,000,000,000 p
-- 1 --
deka 10 D
kilo 1,000 k
mega 1,000,000 M
giga 1,000,000,000 G



Metric U.S. Metric-U.S.
1cm=10mm 1ft=12 in 1in=2.54 cm
1m=100cm 1 yard=3ft 1yd=0.914m
1m=1000mm 1 mile = 5280 ft 1km=0.621 miles
1km=1000m

1mL=1cc or 1cm
3
1 cup=8fl oz 1 kg=2.20 lb
1dL=100mL 1pint=2cups 454 g=1lb
1L=10dL 1qt=4cups=2pints 1ton=907.2 kg
1L=1000mL 1gallon=4 quarts 1 grain=0.000065 kg

1g=1000mg 1 lb=16 oz 946 mL=1qt
1kg=1000g 0.946L=1 qt
1mg=1000g 1L=1.06qt