Question

how many significant figures are in the measurment 1.050 L

Answer 1

do you know the rules for sig figs

Answer 2

4.

Here's a good tutorial for you:
http://sigfigscalculator.appspot.com/tutorial

Answer 3

4 is not correct.

Answer 4

study girl, what makes you say that its not correct

Answer 5

The zero on the end is not counted as a significant number...at least that's how I learned it....maybe I'm wrong?

Answer 6

i think thats wrong, since it tells you that you have more precision

Answer 7

since, it's a decimal, it can be written as 1.05, where the 0 is unimportant...

Answer 8

Oh, you're probably right. Sorry @StarJ9 @perl

Answer 9

0 is important in between since it is between two non zero integers

lets do an example
how many sig figs:

0.0050

Answer 10

now the zeroes here are just placeholders, so we can rewrite it as
5.0 x 10^-3

Answer 11

Basically that means my chemistry lessons at CA are wrong, lol...

Answer 12

Look here @perl
(chemistry lesson)

Answer 13

that is correct,
the difference was that in our problem we had a 1 in front

Answer 14

look what happens if we put 1 in front

Answer 15

I'm confused..lol

Answer 16

1.000044 L , how many sig figs does this have ?

Answer 17

Thats the same thing as 4.4*10^-5

Answer 18

3 @perl ?

Answer 19

7 sig figs

Answer 20

you can't eliminate the zeroes using scientific notation

Answer 21

they are stuck

Answer 22

oh, I see. So you can only ignore the zeroes if the expression can be transformed into scientific notation without rounded?

Answer 23

0.000044 L = 4.4 x 10^-5 L

1.000044 L = 1.000044 L , can't eliminate the zeroes

Answer 24

but don't forget with scientific notation, the zeroes at the end do count

Answer 25

the calculator will ignore zeroes at the end, and just drop them

Answer 26

not if it is a decimal^

Answer 27

zeroes don't count if the number is a decimal without any whole numbers ^

Answer 28

for example
0.010 = 1.0 x 10^-2

Answer 29

does that have 1 sig fig?^^^

Answer 30

yes that one had 2 sig figs

Answer 31

...??? you mean 1?

Answer 32

a measurement of
0.0010 feet , this has 2 sig figs

Answer 33

0.0010 feet = 1.0 x 10^-3

Answer 34

why...?

Answer 35

because of the zero on the end indicates precision right?

Answer 36

lets use metric scale

Answer 37

right

Answer 38

@perl I'm gonna open my own thread

Answer 39

whats the difference between a measurement of
3.2 meters
versus
3.20 meters