Homework Question on The Concept of Significant Figures
- Write a 200 word original grammatically correct essay on the concept of significant figures, what do they tell you about a measurement ?
Homework Answer on The Concept of Significant Figures
Significant figures refer to figures that are deemed reliable. There are numerous rules associated with significant figures. For example, all non-zero figures are considered significant. Second, all zeros that appear between non- zero numbers are usually significant. Chemical calculations include numbers that show real measurements. The conception of significant figures is vital in measurements. The lowest number of digits needed to give a report on the value with no loss of exactness is the number of significant figures.
It is vital to use significant figures in writing a measurement for it not to look to have further precision than the measuring tool is capable of determining. The popular significant figure is the left-most non-zero digit for instance, digit 5 in the number 0.007345.A significant figure enables one to come up with accurate measurements. For instance, if one wants to find out the weight of a tablet using a less costly postal scale, he may find out the weight to be 3.3g (2 significant figures).
If one wants to find out the weight on a similar top loading balance, the result would be 3.32 g (3 significant figures). The instrument used for measuring shows the correctness involved in calculating weight. This also tells us that when it comes to measurements, significant figures are used to ensure that readers are not misled. When an individual reads an instrument, for instance, a barometer, graduate, ruler, and balance, he expresses the reading as one that is reasonably reliable.