Chem 150L KEY Fall 2020

Exp. 1: Density Measurements: Pre-Lab

Name (Print) ______________________________________________________________

Date _____________________________ Lab Group _______

In this lab, you will be learning more about measurements, unit conversions, and accuracy and
precision. This will all be done in the lens of measuring the density of various materials, using two
different methods. When you complete this lab, you should be comfortable (you don’t need to be an
expert!) with using dimensional analysis in calculations, tracking significant figures throughout a
calculation, and understanding how mass and volume are typically measured in a chemistry setting.

A. Accuracy and Precision

The quality of a set of measurements is determined by the accuracy and precision of that data set.
The accuracy of a measurement can be determined by comparing your measured value(s) to a true
value. If your value is reasonably close to the true value, then it is considered to be accurate. To quantify
your accuracy, you can also calculate the percent error of a measurement:
𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 − 𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
% 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 =  100%
𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑒 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
Based on this calculation, the percent error can be either positive or negative. The sign of the error is
important, especially if you are trying to correct for the error. Using dart throwing as an example, it’s
helpful to know that your shot is not on target. If trying to correct your aim, though, it’s important to
know whether your shot is high, low, or to either side, so you can adjust accordingly!
While accuracy is the closeness of a measurement to a true value, the precision of a measurement
has two different definitions. The most common definition of precision relates to a set of measurements.
This definition states that a set of measurements are precise if the measurements are very close to one
another. A quick check to see if a measurement is precise is to look at the range of the measurements
(the difference between the largest and smallest data point). If the range appears to be large in relation to
the measured values, then your measurement is likely not precise. In order to quantify the precision of a
set of measurements, you would determine the standard deviation of your data set. In order to do so,
you also need to calculate the average of your data set. The equations for both are shown below (you
will not need to calculate standard deviations in Chem 150):
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠1 + 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠2 + 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠3 + ⋯ ∑(𝑋)
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 (𝑋̅) = =
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑛

(𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠1 − 𝐴𝑣𝑔)2 + (𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠2 − 𝐴𝑣𝑔)2 + ⋯ ∑(𝑥𝑖 − 𝑋̅)2

𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝐷𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑠) = √ = √
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 − 1 𝑛−1

The smaller your standard deviation is, the more precise your measurements are! In order to take a
standard deviation, you need multiple measurements. When possible, you should always take at least

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three measurements. With only one measurement, you cannot tell whether the measurement is accurate
unless you are comparing it to a true value (which is not always possible). With two measurements, you
can tell whether the measurements are in agreement with each other, but you can’t tell which is more
accurate. Only when you get to three or more measurements can you start to tell whether a particular
measurement is inaccurate compared to the others. The more measurements you make, the more
confident you can be in the reproducibility of said measurement.
It is possible to be precise, but not accurate, and vice versa. The two represent different types of
errors that can be present in an experiment. A more detailed discussion of error (and how to minimize
it!) can be found by taking a course in analytical chemistry. One type of error that we will discuss,
however is gross (human) error. This is error that occurs due to mistakes such as spilling reagents, not
properly dispensing a solution, or forgetting a step in your synthetic/analytical workflow. Rather than try
to recover from human error like this, it is often better to start over fresh, and try again.

B. Tolerance and Significant Figures

If you only take a single measurement, then it is difficult to know the true precision of the method
that you are using. However, we can approximate the precision of a single measurement by looking at
the tolerance of the measurement. For extrapolating this tolerance across complex calculations, we can
then use significant figures to approximate the error of the calculation. In future chemistry courses, you
will learn how to propagate the uncertainty of your individual measurements within a calculation, but
significant figures is a great proxy when the uncertainty does not need to be exactly known.
What is a tolerance? The tolerance is the allowable error of a measurement tool. This allowable
error is due to electronic fluctuations in measurements, or due to small differences in the manufacturing
of the tool itself. The tolerance can vary in scale, depending on the measuring tools in question. An
example that we’ll give is comparing two different types of balances (measuring mass), shown in Table
1. The first is a food scale, which cooks will use for weighing out different ingredients for use in a
recipe. The second is an analytical balance, which is used for the weighing out of small quantities of
reagents for use in experiments:
Table 1. Comparison of two balances
Exactly 25 Cost
Type of Max mass The range of this
Tolerance (g) grams would (US
balance allowed (g) reading… (g)
read… (g) dollars)
Food Scale
5,100 ±1 25 24 - 26 15
(Ozeri ZK-14S)
Analytical
120 ± 0.0001 25.0000 24.9999 - 25.0001 2,000
Balance
There are plenty of balances between these in tolerance, scale and cost, but these two make a good
comparison point. If we compare the two balances, we can see that the analytical balance, due to having
a substantially smaller tolerance than the food scale, can more precisely measure the mass of an object.
Taking the tolerance into account, the mass range of 25 grams on an analytical balance is much
smaller than the same range covered by the food scale. Now, some of you may be looking at the cost
with concern. That concern is valid – we pay significantly more to have that high degree of precision.
When thinking about measurements, especially if money is involved, one thing to think about is “Do I

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need this precise of a measurement for what I am doing? Would a less precise measurement be equally
valid?” Keep this in mind, as we will revisit it in a moment.

Rather than reporting tolerances, an acceptable proxy is to report measured values to a correct
number of significant figures (sig. figs.). The significant figures are the digits that you precisely know,
as well as the first digit that you are uncertain about which is usually
the last number listed. Let’s look at our mass measurements from Table
1. For the food scale, we noticed that the measurement could range
(based on the tolerance) from 24 to 26 grams. The first digit (2) is
precisely known. The second digit (5) has some uncertainty. As a
result, we would say that the food scale measurement has two
significant figures. The analytical balance, on the other hand, measures
25.0000 grams with six significant figures. The number of sig. figs. are
all the known (certain) digits plus the last digit that is uncertain.
Another example – let’s look at a graduated cylinder filled with
water. The large lines indicate 0.5 mL increments, while the small lines
indicate 0.1 mL increments. Reading at the bottom of the meniscus (for polar solvents like water), we
can see that the reading is greater than 2.6 mL, but less than 2.7 mL. Therefore, we can say with
certainty that our volume is 2.6X mL. What is “X” in this case? If we approximate it, we might say that
our meniscus looks halfway between 2.6 and 2.7. This would give us a reading of 2.65 mL. This reading
has three significant figures – we are certain of the value of the first two digits, and the third digit has
some potential for error based on our reading. (For practice with reading a graduated cylinder, check out
this link: ThoughtCo – Measurement Test Questions: Reading a Meniscus)
What about a number like 0.0325 grams, or a number like 32,500? At first glance, both of these look
like they have five significant figures based on our rule. However, each of them only has three! Zeroes
have some special rules, which we’ll go over now:
1) Any sandwiched zero (non-zero numbers on either side) is always significant. Note that the non-
zero numbers don’t have to be immediately adjacent – both 808 and 1001 have sandwiched
zeroes present.
2) A leading zero (a zero that has no non-zero numbers to the left of it), like in our 0.0325 grams
measurement, is never significant.
3) A trailing zero (no non-zero numbers to the right), is significant if there is a decimal place in
the number. For instance, the trailing zeroes in 32,500 are not significant, but the trailing zeroes
in 25.0000 are.

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C. Scientific Notation and SI (Système International) Prefixes

With leading zeroes and non-decimal trailing zeroes, we assume that the zeroes are placeholders,
there solely to report the number correctly. However, some non-decimal trailing zeroes might be
significant! 32,500, with no additional context, would be said to have three significant figures. If we
wanted to report 32,500 with four significant figures, we would want to use scientific notation to
properly report it. With scientific notation, we would report a number with the following notation:
#.###…  10n
To describe it in other terms – we would shift our decimal place to either the left or to the right until
our number had one digit before the decimal point, and the rest of the significant digits after the decimal
point. For each place we shift the decimal point to the left, we would increase the power of 10 by 1. For
each place we shift the decimal point to the right, we would decrease the power of 10 by 1. Using our
numbers from before as an example:
32,500 (3 significant figures) – we would shift the decimal place four digits to the left. As a result of
this, we would increase the power of 10 by four, giving us an answer of 3.25  104.
32,500 (4 significant figures) – we would do the same as above. Because we have four significant
figures, though, the final answer would instead be 3.250  104.
0.0325 (3 significant figures) – we would shift the decimal place two to the right. Because of this,
we would decrease the power of 10 by two, giving us a final answer of 3.25  10-2.
There are two major benefits of scientific notation. The first is that the number reported will
intuitively tell us the number of significant figures. The second, bigger benefit is that this is a way to
more cleanly report a very large or very small number (both of which are quite common in chemistry).
In addition to scientific notation, we can use SI prefixes to show the very large and very small as
well. The SI prefixes represent certain powers of 10 and can be used in place of scientific notation to
describe a value. Some examples of SI prefixes are listed in the table below.
Table 2. Commonly used SI prefixes in chemistry
Prefix (abbreviation) Power of 10 equivalent Example conversion to base units
giga- (G) 109 1 GJ = 109 J
mega- (M) 106 1 MJ = 106 J
kilo- (k) 103 1 kJ = 103 J
centi- (c) 10-2 1 cm = 10-2 m
milli- (m) 10-3 1 mL = 10-3 L
micro- (μ) 10-6 1 μL = 10-6 L
nano- (n) 10-9 1 nm = 10-9 m
pico- (p) 10-12 1 pm = 10-12 m
femto- (f) 10-15 1 fg = 10-15 g

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D. Density, Tracking Significant Figures in Calculations

Now that we’ve gone over how to take and report measurements, let’s talk about the measurements
that you will be working with in lab this week. The primary goal of the lab is to measure the density of
various objects. The general equation for density is below:
𝑚
𝜌= ; 𝜌 = 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑚 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠, 𝑉 = 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
𝑉
The typical units for the density of solids and liquids is (g/cm3) or (g/mL). For gasses, (g/L) is often
reported instead. Note that if we were reporting it using SI-appropriate units, the density would be
reported to (kg/m3). In order to determine the density, we will need the mass of our object, as well its
volume. The mass is from using an analytical balance. What about the volume, though?
We’ll be measuring the volume through one of two different ways. In the first method, we’ll be
using direct measurements – measuring the dimensions of the material – and using those dimensions to
calculate the volume of the object. We’ll be working with cubes and cylinders, which have the following
equations for volume:
𝑉 (𝑐𝑢𝑏𝑒) = 𝐿  𝑊  𝐻 𝑉(𝑐𝑦𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟) = 𝜋  𝑟 2  𝐿 = 𝜋  (𝑑 2 /4)  𝐿
Where L is the length, W is the width, H is the height, and r is the radius. It is usually easier to
measure the diameter of an object (d). The radius is one-half of the diameter of the object.
For determining the volume (or when determining the final density), we’ll be multiplying or dividing
numbers together. How do significant figures apply for multiplication and division? In these situations,
the significant figures of the final answer is dictated by the value with the smallest number of
significant figures. Let’s do an example with density. Say we have an object that we weighed out to be
1.0055 grams (five SF), and measured a volume of 2.0 cm3. We would calculate the density as:
𝑚 1.0005 𝑔 𝑔
𝜌= = = 0.50025
𝑉 2.0 𝑐𝑚3 𝑐𝑚3
This is the answer that we get based on our calculation. If we look at our significant figures,
however, we see that our volume only has two. As a result, we can only report our density to two
significant figures as well (or 0.50 g/cm3). The precision of your final calculation is limited by your
least precise measurement! In this case, we didn’t need to use an analytical balance, as the extra
precision of the balance was wasted due to the low precision of our volume measurement.
The other means that we will use to determine a volume is through displacement of water. In this
method, we will pour water into a graduated cylinder and read the water level. After adding the object,
the volume of the object will displace some water, raising the water level. We can read the final water
level, and then subtract the initial water level to get the volume of the object. When tracking significant
figures for subtraction (and addition), you are limited by your value that is reported to the largest
units place. This will be explained in more detail to you in the pre-lab lecture.
Finally, the last thing we want to touch on is tracking significant figures between calculations. In
general, you do not want to round off after every calculation. Depending on the degree of rounding
necessary, this might create a large error in the final answer (especially if you are sig. fig. limited). With

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a calculator or spreadsheet software like Excel, you can keep the full number until you reach the final
calculation. This may make it hard to track sig. figs. after the fact, though, especially if doing a mix of
+/- and x/÷. If doing work one step at a time, it is good practice to track your sig. figs. after each step
and keep one or two extra sig figs for future calculations. This avoids rounding errors, but also makes it
easier for you to properly report your final answer!
Pre-Lab Questions

`1. Determine the volume of the following cube and cylinder in mL (remember, 1 mL = 1 cm3; it is
recommended to convert lengths to cm before calculating the volume). Make sure to both report to
the correct number of significant figures, as well as use scientific notation if needed.

a. A cube with a length, height and width of 5.3 cm 150 mL

V = l  w  h = (5.3 cm)3 = 150 cm3 = 150 mL (2 sig. figs.)
b. A cylinder with a length of 24.4 mm and a diameter of 0.007 mL or 7  10-3 mL
0.6 mm
V =   r2  h =   d2/4  h =   [(0.06 cm)2/4]  2.44 cm = 0.007 cm3 = 0.007 mL (1 sig. fig.)
2. Convert your volumes to the following units:

c. Cube (reported in L): 0.15 L

150 mL  (L/1,000 mL) = 0.15 L
d. Cylinder (reported in L): 7 L
7  10 mL  (L/1,000 mL)  10 L/L = 7 L
-3 6

3. The following sets of measurements were done to determine the density of a cube of tungsten (one
of the most dense elements, with a density of 19.3 g/cm3). Are they accurate? Yes or No. Are they
precise? Yes or No. They can be one of these, both of these, or neither!
Hint:
1) Calculate the percent error.
2) Calculate the standard deviation of the five densities and then find what percentage the std. dev. is
of the average density. If both 1) and 2) are less than 5%, then the values are both accurate and
precise.

Density 1 Density 2 Density 3 Density 4 Density 5 Accurate? Precise?

19.75 19.62 18.42 19.91 18.70 Yes Yes

Average = (19.75 + 19.62 + 18.42 + 19.91 + 18.70)/5 = 19.28

% error = [(19.28 – 19.3)/19.3]  100% = -2%, (absolute value = +2%) which is < 5%,

` Standard deviation (use the formula on the 1st page to find std. dev.) = 0.6726
The std. dev. is (0.6726/19.28)  100% = 3.49 % of the average value, which is < 5%, so the
measurements can be considered accurate and precise.