Measurements:

Every measurement has UNITS.

Every measurement has UNCERTAINTY.

Accuracy and Precision in Measurements

Accuracy: how close a measurement

is to the accepted value.
Precision: how close a series of
measurements are to one another or
how far out a measurement is taken.

A measurement can have high precision, but

not be as accurate as a less precise one.
2

 Precision can also mean

The number of decimal places assigned to the
measured number (The more decimal places,
the more precise the measurement)

Ex.
2.1 cm
2.10 cm
2.100 cm

Significant Figures are used to indicate the precision of a

measured number or to express the precision of a calculation
with measured numbers.
In any measurement
the digit farthest to
the right is
considered to be
estimated.

2
1.3

2.0
4

Sig. Fig. Rules (with measurements):

1. All non-zero digits are significant.
526
3 sig figs
1222
4 sig figs
0.54
2 sig figs
2. Zeros at the beginning of a measurement are not significant.
0.005
0.0015
0.00000887

1 sig fig
2 sig figs
3 sig figs
5

3. Zeros in between two significant figures are

significant
0.00505
40065

3 sig figs
5 sig figs

4. Final zeros after a decimal point are significant

1.0
74.00
105.20
0.0050
2.000
20.0

2 sig figs
4 sig figs
5 sig figs
2sig figs
4 sig figs
3 sig figs

Counted numbers and definitions (2.54 cm = 1 inch) are

considered to be exact and have no effect on the
number of
6
sig. figs. reported in calculations with measurements.

Calculations with sig. Figs.

Addition and subtraction:
Look at decimal places!
Answer should have the
same amount of decimal
places as the
measurement with the
least amount
3.63 cm
13.129 cm
+123.1
cm
139.859

cm = 139.9 cm

significant to
the 0.1 place

Measurement Calculations with scientific notation.

Addition/subtraction: must be placed into the same notation.
(2.3 x 103) + (3.2 x 104) =
0.23 x 104
+3.2 x 104
3.43 x 104

= 3.4 x 104

Calculations with Sig. figs.

Multiplication and division (measurements):

Count sig figs!!

Answer should have
the same amount of
sig figs as the
measurement with
the least amount.
2.734 cm x 5.2 cm x 8.1294 cm = 115.5740539 cm3
4 s.f.
2 s.f.
5 s.f.
written as 120 cm3
2 s.f.s
9

1. The term that is related to the reproducibility

(repeatability) of a measurement is
a. accuracy.
Lets take a Quiz
b. precision.
b. precision.
c. qualitative.
d. quantitative.
e. property.
2. The number of significant figures in the mass
measured as 0.010210 g is
a. 1.
b. 2.
e. 5.
c. 3.
d. 4.
e. 5.
10

3. The number of significant figures in 6.0700 x 10-4 is

a. 3.
b. 4.
c. 5.
c. 5.
d. 6.
e. 7.
4. How many significant figures are there in the value
0.003060?
a. 7
b. 6
c. 5
d. 4
d. 4
e. 3
11

Percent Error
Indicates accuracy of a measurement

% error

experiment al literature
literature

your value
accepted value

100

Percent Error

A student determines the density of a substance to

be 1.40 g/mL. Find the % error if the accepted
value of the density is 1.36 g/mL.

% error

1.40 g/mL 1.36 g/mL

1.36 g/mL

% error = 2.9 %

100