1

Introduction

Matter and Measurement

Outlines
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

The Study of Chemistry

Classification of Matter
Properties of Matter
Units of Measurements
Uncertainty in Measurements
Dimensional Analysis

The Study of Chemistry

Chemistry is the study of matter and the

changes that matter undergoes.
Matter is made up of almost infinitesimally small
building blocks called atoms.
Atoms can combine together to form molecules.
Molecules of a few familiar substances are
represented here.
In later chapters you will learn more about how
atoms combine to form molecules, and how
molecules have the shapes and properties that
they do.

The Study of Chemistry

Classification of Matter

Matter can exist in one of three states of

matter: a gas, a liquid, or a solid.
A gas is highly compressible and will assume
both the shape and the volume of its container.
A liquid is not compressible and will assume the
shape but not the volume of its container.
A solid also is not compressible, and it has a
fixed volume and shape of its own.

Classification of Matter

Matter can also be classified according to its

composition.
Most of the matter that we encounter exists in
mixtures, which are combinations of two or
more substances.
Mixtures can be homogeneous or
heterogeneous.
Mixtures can be separated into pure
substances, and pure substances can be either
compounds or elements.

Classification of Matter

A familiar example of a mixture is salt

water.
A sample of salt water has the same
composition throughout.
It can be separated into pure
substanceswater and ordinary table
saltby a physical process, such as
distillation.

Classification of Matter

Pure water is collected in the flask on the right.

When all of the water has been distilled from
the mixture, pure saltNaClwill remain in the
flask on the left.
Both water and salt are pure substances.
They cannot be further separated into simpler
substances by any physical process.
Each, however, can be decomposed into other
substances by a chemical process, namely
electrolysis.
electrolysis

Classification of Matter

The substances produced by the electrolysis of

water cannot be further separated by any
physical or chemical means.
Oxygen and hydrogen are elements.
When water is separated into its constituent
elements, the relative amounts of those
elements are always the same.
Water is 11 percent hydrogen and 89 percent
oxygen by mass.

Classification of Matter

This is an example of the law of constant

composition, also known as the law of definite
proportions.
Salt can also be separated into its constituent
elements, sodium and chlorine, by electrolysis.
Sodium chloride also has a constant composition,
as do all pure substances.
It is 39 percent sodium and 61 percent chlorine
by mass.

Matter Classification
Scheme
Matter

NO

YES

Is it uniform
throughout?

Heterogeneous
mixture

Homogeneous

NO

Can it be
separated by
physical means?

Pure
substance

NO

Element

Can it be decomposed
into other substances by
chemical processes?

YES

Homogeneous
mixt. (solutn)

YES

Compound

Properties of Matter

Different types of matter have

different distinguishing characteristics
that we can use to tell them apart.
These characteristics are called physical
properties and chemical properties.
Physical and chemical properties may be
intensive or extensive.

Properties of Matter

Intensive properties such as density,

color, and boiling point do not depend on
the size of the sample of matter and can
be used to identify substances.
Extensive properties such as mass and
volume do depend on the quantity of the
sample.

Properties of Matter

Physical properties are those that we can

determine without changing the identity
of the substance we are studying.
For instance, we can observe or measure
the physical properties of sodium metal.
It is a soft, lustrous, silver-colored
metal with a relatively low melting point
and low density.

Properties of Matter

Hardness, color, melting point and

density are all physical properties.
Figure 7.15 shows a chunk of
metallic sodium, which is soft
enough to be cut with a knife.

Properties of Matter

Figure 7.15

Properties of Matter

Chemical properties describe the

way a substance can change or react
to form other substances.
These properties, then, must be
determined using a process that
changes the identity of the
substance of interest.

Properties of Matter

One of the chemical properties of

alkali metals such as sodium and
potassium is that they react with
water.
To determine this, though, we would
have to combine an alkali metal with
water and observe what happens.

Properties of Matter

Sodium and Potassium in Water

Properties of Matter

Sodium metal (Na) reacts rather

vigorously with water to produce sodium
hydroxide (NaOH) and hydrogen gas
(H2).
After the reaction has occurred,
although we now have evidence of one of
sodium metal's chemical properties, we
no longer have sodium metal.

Properties of Matter

Potassium reacts even more vigorously with

water to produce potassium hydroxide (KOH)
and hydrogen gas.
As with sodium, once we have determined a
chemical property of potassium metal, we no
longer have potassium metal.
To determine the chemical properties of a
substance, it is necessary to change the
substance's chemical identity.

Properties of Matter

The changes undergone by sodium and

potassium when they react with water
are chemical changes, also known as
chemical reactions.
Matter can also undergo physical
changes in which the chemical identity of
the matter does not change.

Properties of Matter

One example of a physical change is the

melting of a solid.
When ice melts, it changes from a solid
state to a liquid state, but its chemical
identity (H2O) is unchanged.
All changes of state are physical
changes.

Units of Measurements

The scientific community uses SI

units for measurement of such
properties as mass, length, and
temperature.
There are seven SI base units from
which all other necessary units are
derived.

Units of Measurements

Units of Measurements

Although the meter is the base SI unit used for

length, it may not be convenient to report the
length of an extremely small object or an
extremely large object in units of meters.
Decimal prefixes allow us to choose a unit that
is appropriate to the quantity being measured.
Thus, a very small object might best be
measured in millimeters (1 millimeter = 0.001
meters), while a large distance might best be
measured in kilometers (1 kilometer = 1000
meters).

Units of Measurements

Units of Measurements

The SI unit of temperature is the kelvin,

although the Celsius scale is also commonly
used.
The Kelvin scale is known as the absolute
temperature scale, with 0 K being the lowest
theoretically attainable temperature.

K = C + 273.15

Figure 1.18 shows a comparison of the Kelvin,

Celsius, and Fahrenheit scales.

Units of Measurements

Units of Measurements

Note that there are no units of volume in

Table 1.4.
For measurements of volume, density,
and other properties, we must derive the
desired units from SI base units.
In the case of volume, which has units of
length cubed, (length)3, the basic SI unit
for volume is the cubic meter (m3).

Units of Measurements

This is an extremely large volume, though, and

more often you will see volumes reported in
liters, L (1 cubic decimeter, or 1 dm3), or
milliliters, mL (which are the same as cubic
centimeters: 1 mL = 1 cm3).
Density has units of mass per unit volume and is
often reported as grams per cubic centimeter,
g/cm3.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

Even the most carefully taken

measurements are always inexact.
This can be a consequence of
inaccurately calibrated instruments,
human error, or any number of
other factors.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

Two terms are used to describe the

quality of measurements: precision and
accuracy.
Precision is a measure of how closely
individual measurements agree with one
another.
Accuracy refers to how closely
individually measured numbers agree with
the correct or "true" value.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

Uncertainty in
Measurements

Whatever the source, all measurements

contain error.
Thus, all measured numbers contain
uncertainty.
It is important that these numbers be
reported in such a way as to convey the
magnitude of this uncertainty.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

Consider a fourth-grade student who, when

asked by his teacher how old the Earth is,
replies "Four billion and three years old." (The
student had been told by a first-grade teacher
three years earlier that the Earth was four
billion years old.)
Obviously, we don't know the age of Earth to
the year, so it is not appropriate to report a
number that suggests we do.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

In order to convey the appropriate

uncertainty in a reported number, we
must report it to the correct number of
significant figures.
The number 83.4 has three digits.
All three digits are significant. The 8 and
the 3 are "certain digits" while the 4 is
the "uncertain digit."

Uncertainty in
Measurements

As written, this number implies

uncertainty of plus or minus 0.1, or error
of 1 part in 834.
Thus, measured quantities are generally
reported in such a way that only the last
digit is uncertain.
All digits, including the uncertain one,
are called significant figures.

Uncertainty in
Measurements
Guidelines

Nonzero digits are always significant457 cm (3

significant figures); 2.5 g (2 significant figures).
Zeros between nonzero digits are always
significant1005 kg (4 significant figures); 1.03
cm (3 significant figures).
Zeros at the beginning of a number are never
significant; they merely indicate the position of
the decimal point0.02 g (one significant
figure); 0.0026 cm (2 significant figures).

Uncertainty in
Measurements

Zeros that fall at the end of a number or

after the decimal point are always
significant0.0200 g (3 significant
figures); 3.0 cm (2 significant figures).
When a number ends in zeros but
contains no decimal point, the zeros may
or may not be significant130 cm (2 or 3
significant figures); 10,300 g (3, 4, or 5
significant figures).

Uncertainty in
Measurements

To avoid ambiguity with regard to the number

of significant figures in a number with tailing
zeros but no decimal point, such as 700, we use
scientific (or exponential) notation to express
the number.
If we are reporting the number 700 to three
significant figures, we can leave it written as it
is, or we can express it as 7.00 x 102.
There is no ambiguity in the latter regarding
the number of significant figures, because
zeros after a decimal point are always
significant.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

However, if there really should be only

two significant figures, we can express
this number as 7.0 x 102.
Likewise, if there should be only one
significant figure, we can write 7 x 102.
Scientific notation is convenient for
expressing the appropriate number of
significant figures.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

It is also useful to report extremely

large and extremely small numbers.
It would be most inconvenient for us to
have to write all of the zeros in the
number 1.91 x 10-24
(0.00000000000000000000000191).

Uncertainty in
Measurements

When measured numbers are used in a

calculation, the final answer cannot have any
greater certainty than the measured numbers
that went into the calculation.
In other words, the precision of the result is
limited by the precision of the measurements
used to obtain that result.
For example: If we measure the length of one
side of a cube and find it to be 1.35 cm; and we
then calculate the volume of the cube using this
measured length, we get an answer of 2.460375
cm3.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

Our original measurement had three significant

figures. The implied uncertainty in 1.35 is 1 part
in 135.
If we report the volume of the cube to seven
significant figures, we are implying an
uncertainty of 1 part in over two million! We
can't do that.
In order to report results of calculations so as
to imply a realistic degree of uncertainty, we
must follow the following rules.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

When multiplying or dividing measured

numbers, the answer must have the same
number of significant figures as the
measured number with the fewest
significant figures.
When adding or subtracting, the answer
can have only as many places to the right
of the decimal point as the measured
number with the smallest number of
places to the right of the decimal point.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

Using these rules, we would report

the volume of the cube in the
example above as 2.46 cm3.
Use the Significant Figures activity
to practice reporting calculated
numbers to the appropriate number
of significant figures.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

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Uncertainty in
Measurements

Not all numbers are measured numbers.

There are some numbers that arise as a
result of counting or as a result of a
definition.
If there are three birds in a cage, there
is no uncertainty in the number of birds.

Uncertainty in
Measurements

Likewise, there is no uncertainty in the

number of items in a dozen.
These are exact numbers, and they are
taken to have an infinite number of
significant figures (exact numbers should
never limit the number of significant
figures you report in a calculated
answer).

Dimensional Analysis

Solving problems in chemistry requires

careful manipulation of numbers and
their associated units, a method known
as dimensional analysis.
For example: What is the volume of a
5.25-gram sample of a liquid with density
1.23 g/mL?
The density of the liquid can be used as a
conversion factor.

Dimensional Analysis

For the liquid in the example, 1.23 grams

are equal to 1 milliliter (1 mL).
When the numerator and denominator of
a fraction are equal, the fraction has a
value of 1, meaning that we can multiply
by it for the purpose of changing units.
The density conversion factor can be
expressed in either of the following two
ways.

Dimensional Analysis

Dimensional Analysis

The one we choose to multiply by depends on

what units we want in our result.
In this case we want an answer in units of
milliliters. So we choose the fraction on the
right and multiply it by the mass given in the
problem.
Note that if we had chosen the other version of
the density conversion factor, we would have
ended up with a different number and also
nonsensical units.

Dimensional Analysis

Dimensional Analysis

This illustrates the importance of carrying units

through a calculation.
One way to check your work is to carefully
cancel units to make sure that you arrive at an
answer with the appropriate units.
When you end up with units that don't seem to
have any reasonable physical meaning, such as
grams squared per milliliter, you will realize that
you must have made some sort of mistake.
Go back and check your work.