I think I did a calculation wrong but I am having trouble understanding significant figures. In this problem, I am calculation the density of water from my previous calculations mass= 7.359g and volume=7.8mL. So I then divided 7.359g by 7.8mL to find density and got (.9434615385) on my calculator which I then turned into (.94) because I believe there should be 2 significant figures. Is (.94) correct or should 1.4 be the final answer?

Chemistry: Principles and Practice
3rd Edition
ISBN:9780534420123
Author:Daniel L. Reger, Scott R. Goode, David W. Ball, Edward Mercer
Publisher:Daniel L. Reger, Scott R. Goode, David W. Ball, Edward Mercer
Chapter1: Introduction To Chemistry
Section: Chapter Questions
Problem 1.49QE: Express the measurements to the requested number of significant figures. (a) 96,485 J/C to three...
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I think I did a calculation wrong but I am having trouble understanding significant figures.

In this problem, I am calculation the density of water from my previous calculations mass= 7.359g and volume=7.8mL. So I then divided 7.359g by 7.8mL to find density and got (.9434615385) on my calculator which I then turned into (.94) because I believe there should be 2 significant figures. Is (.94) correct or should 1.4 be the final answer?

Expert Solution
Step 1

Significant figures:

These are the digits of a number that are useful in terms of accuracy and precision.

There are few rules for the significant figures:

1) All non-zero digits are significant.

2) Zeroes present between two non-zero digits are significant.

3) Leading zeroes i.e the zeroes that lie before any non-zero digit are non-significant.

4) Trailing zeroes i.e the zeroes that lie after the significant figure are considered significant.

 

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