Tools of Quantitative Chemistry

Resources on these topics pages are here to assist you in your mastery of course content. None of the work, etc, on these pages are 'required,' so to speak. It is provided for you to use as fits into your overall approach to studying for this course. 

• General and detailed objectives give you an idea of how you will be assessed over each objective and can serve as a 'study guide' of sorts

• Slides are the raw material from which I build my in-class lectures. Annotated slides will be provided after lectures on the course schedule.

• When available, Reading Guides are provided to assist you in taking and organizing notes as you read the textbook. 

• Any supplemental videos provided are produced by myself other chemistry education professionals.

• Any additional practice provided contains answer keys, so that you may check your work.

Tools of Quantitative Chemistry Objectives

1. Describe and convert units of measurement, including metric prefixes. 

2. Understand measurement uncertainty, accuracy, and precision 

3. Be able to use dimensional analysis, problem-solving and chemical arithmetic to solve problems. 

Objective 1. Describe and convert units of measurement, including metric prefixes 

• • Read Section 1.4 - Measurements

Memorize:

• • Memorize the SI units (OpenStax Table 1.2)

  • Memorize the metric prefixes (OpenStax Table 1.3)

Upon successful completion of this objective,  you NEED to be able to: (note that these skills are VITAL to your success in this course!!)

• • Explain the process of measurement

  • Identify the three basic parts of a quantity

  • Describe the properties and units of length, mass, volume, density, temperature, and time

  • Perform basic unit calculations and conversions in the metric and other unit systems

Objective 2: Understand measurement uncertainty, accuracy, and precision 

Tasks:

• Read Section 1.5 - Measurement Uncertainty, Accuracy, and Precision

Upon successful completion of this objective,  you NEED to be able to: (note that these skills are VITAL to your success in this course!!)

• • Define accuracy and precision

  • Distinguish exact and uncertain numbers

  • Correctly represent uncertainty in quantities using significant figures

  • Apply proper rounding rules to computed quantities

Objective 3: Be able to use dimensional analysis, problem-solving and chemical arithmetic to solve problems.  

Tasks :

• Read Section 1.6 - Mathematical Treatment of Measurement Results

• Note that Dimensional analysis is a very important tool, and if you have a good grasp of how to apply it you will have an easier time setting up and solving most of the calculations we do in the course. Being able to set up the problems we work on can be one of the biggest challenges for students in this course. I like to map out the problems I work on before I go through the calculations so I can see how I’m going to get from what I am given in a problem to the final answer.

Upon successful completion of this objective,  you NEED to be able to: (note that these skills are VITAL to your success in this course!!)

• • Be able to interpret units and use dimensional analysis to solve given problems.

  • Create basic strategy maps and be able to follow the maps in the textbook for problem-solving.