UNIT 0: TOOLS OF THE

SCIENTIST
Chemistry

DAY 1:
MEASUREMENT

CHALLENGE!
A company is planning to lay copper wire between
Jackson and NCHS to transport electricity
Copper costs $2.16 per pound
How can the company determine the cost required to
place the wire?

WHAT QUESTIONS DO YOU

HAVE?

AT LAB STATIONS
Open Density Lab Document under Unit 0, Day 1
Share your document with me
Record ten data points (use wire samples at front of
classroom)

DAY 2: DENSITY AND UNIT

CONVERSION

CATALYST
What causes an object to float in water?

What does the demonstration show about our

hypothesis?

DENSITY VIRTUAL LAB

Get one of the laptops from the cart
Go to class website
Unit 0, Day 2
Click on Density Lab

WILL DENSITY CHANGE?

Two type of properties:
Extrinsic: Depends on how much of a substance you
have
Examples?

Intrinsic: Stays the same for a given chemical no

matter how much of it there is
Examples?

CHALLENGE
Diamonds have a density of 3.1 g/mL. Will a
diamond float in liquid mercury if the density of
mercury is 13580 kg/m3?

PROPORTIONS

Cross-Multiply

Baseball Bat Method

Circle the number diagonal from the

variable (the ball)

To find x: Divide the baseball bat

by the ball

Circle numbers diagonal from each

other (the bat)they get multiplied
together

WHAT IF WE DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT

UNITS?

We have to convert to the units we want

What will we need?

Our starting unit

Our desired end unit
Conversion Factor: Tells us how to get from starting to ending unit

We will set up proportions to help us solve these

problems

UNIT CONVERSIONS

Desired unit on
top

Conversion Factor

Starting unit on bottom

Note that units line up on both sides: meters on top,
km on bottom

EXAMPLE

Convert 10 g into cg (Conversion Factor:

100 cg = 1 g)

EXAMPLE
Try this one on your own first: The solution is on the
next slide.
Convert 4 miles to feet (1 mile = 5280 ft)

EXAMPLE SOLUTION

BACK TO OUR
CHALLENGE
Diamonds have a density of 3.1 g/mL. Will a
diamond float in liquid mercury if the density of
mercury is 13580 kg/m3?
If I tell you that 1 g/mL = 1000 kg/m3, can you
determine if diamonds will float in mercury?

Your group must give me an answer before you move

to the additional practice

PRACTICE
Use the list of conversions on this slide to practice the six
questions that follow
Write your answers on the given space of your notes
Conversions:

5280 feet in one mile

0.034 ounces in one milliliter
0.454 kg in one pound
1.6 kilometers in one mile
73 gallons in 2 barrels
1.05 quarts in one liter
4 quarts in one gallon

DAY 4: UNIT CONVERSIONS

AND SCIENTIFIC NOTATION

DO NOW: UNIT
CONVERSIONS

1) Convert 4 quarts to liters (1.05 quarts = 1 liters)

2)Convert 0.045 barrels to gallons (73 gallons = 2 barrels)

Scientific Notation: What does it look

like? Format: b x 10n
b

= base

Must

be between 1 and 10

= exponent/power

So how do we do it?
1.

Move decimal point (either left or right) until

there is only 1 number in front of it

2.

Count the number of time the decimal moved

this will be the power
1.

Starting number greater than 1: Exponent is positive

2.

Starting number less than 1: Exponent negative

Examples
Convert

the following numbers to scientific

notation
3427

= 3.427 x 103

0.00456

= 4.56 x 10-3

12300000

= 1.23 x 107

Undoing Scientific Notation (Going back to

decimal notation)
Look

at exponent

Negative:
Positive:

Examples:

Starting number was less than one

Starting number was greater than one

Change to regular notation

1.45

x 105 = 145000

3.52

x 10-3 = 0.00352

Bad Scientific Notation

46.76

x 106

3,895

x 107