Sig Figs Help (1 Viewer)

[Esse]

OK there was a q like 6 x 10^-4 of something was mixed with 150mL of something. How many sig figs do I answer to?? How many sig figs is 0.0006, 4 or 1? How many sig figs is 150, 1 or 2? Really confused with this bs and all my sci teachers say different things so no idea.....

 

[InteGrand]

OK there was a q like 6 x 10^-4 of something was mixed with 150mL of something. How many sig figs do I answer to?? How many sig figs is 0.0006, 4 or 1? How many sig figs is 150, 1 or 2? Really confused with this bs and all my sci teachers say different things so no idea.....

0.0006 is one significant figure. For 150, there's no confusion about whether it's one or two, the only confusion is whether it's two or three. I think you should consider it as two significant figures, but as Wikipedia says, "In a number without a decimal point, trailing zeros may or may not be significant. More information through additional graphical symbols or explicit information on errors is needed to clarify the significance of trailing zeros." (Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_figures#Concise_rules )

You can read more about this ambiguity in the fifth bullet point in this section of that Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Significant_figures#Significant_figures_rules_explained . (Starts with "The significance of trailing zeros in a number not containing a decimal point can be ambiguous.")

 

[Esse]

Shit I meant to ask if it was 2 or 3 *. But thank you so much

 

[jazz519]

Normally in HSC for chem they try to avoid confusion with like 150 as being 2 or 3 sig figs, because they add like a .0 so u get 150.0 which is 4 sig figs, or like 10.0 instead of 10

 

[Esse]

Normally in HSC for chem they try to avoid confusion with like 150 as being 2 or 3 sig figs, because they add like a .0 so u get 150.0 which is 4 sig figs, or like 10.0 instead of 10

Thanks mate!

 

[pikachu975]

If you have 0.0006

You only start counting sig figs when you see a number besides zero, so it starts at the 6 but it's the last number so it's 1 sig fig. Also zeros in between numbers count too like 1001 is 4 sig figs.

For the part about answering questions, usually do it to the LOW* sig figs of the question, so you had 6 x10^-4 which is just 1, so maybe put your answer to 1 as well. This is for writing scientific notation btw.

 

[Shuuya]

If you have 0.0006

You only start counting sig figs when you see a number besides zero, so it starts at the 6 but it's the last number so it's 1 sig fig. Also zeros in between numbers count too like 1001 is 4 sig figs.

For the part about answering questions, usually do it to the max sig figs of the question, so you had 6 x10^-4 which is jusf 1, so maybe put your answer to 1 as well. This is for writing scientific notation btw.

I thought you answered to the lowest number of significant figures in the question?

 

[Silky_Smooth]

I thought you answered to the lowest number of significant figures in the question?

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's always to the lowest number of sig figs

 

[pikachu975]

I thought you answered to the lowest number of significant figures in the question?

My bad lol, I'll edit that