PAL Worksheet - Conversion Factors

PAL—Conversion Factors Part I: Background information on units and conversion factors 1. For each measurement in Table 1, choose both the imperial and metric units (when possible) from Table 2 that would be most appropriate for making that measurement and fill it’s abbreviation in Table 1. [Note: Some measurements in Table 1 may have more than one reasonable unit. Units in Table 2 may be used more than once while others may not be used at all.] Table 1 Unit Unit Abbreviation Abbreviation (Imperial) (Metric) Measurement Your age Length of a Pencil Mass of a large truck Your mass Length of this room Time spent studying each week Length of a football field Temperature of this room Volume of a milk container Mass of a pencil Amount of salt in a recipe Distance from Sacramento to San Francisco Table 2 grams pounds meters kilometers years tons hours centimeters cups teaspoons gallons feet kilograms minutes inches miles degrees (Celsius) liters ounces atomic mass units 1 2. For each conversion below, write the appropriate equality, the conversion factor and determine whether the conversion factor has an infinite number of sig. figs. The first one is done for you. Conversion Equality oz à lb. 1 lb. = 16 oz Conversion Factor 1 lb. 16 oz Exact Value? 16 oz 1 lb. Yes No L à qt Yes No m à mm Yes No in. à cm Yes No or 3. Take the lengths from Table 3 by ordering their corresponding abbreviations from the shortest to longest distance. Also fill in how many meters each length is equal to. The first one is done for you. Table 3 1 megameter 1 picometer 1 kilometer 1 gigameter 1 millimeter 1 decimeter 1 femtometer 1 micrometer 1 terameter 1 centimeter 1 nanometer Shortest 1 fm 10-15 m < Longest < < < < < < < < < 2 Part II: Step-by-Step Practice Using Conversion Factors 4. Work step-by-step to determine the number of ps (picoseconds) in 2.5 Ms (megaseconds). a. Which of the following is a longer duration of time? (Circle your answer) 1 ps or 1 Ms b. Given your response to question 4a, do you expect there to be a large or small number of ps in 2.5 Ms? Explain your reasoning. c. Write out a flow chart similar to that from question 3 that you can use to solve this problem. d. Write out the conversion factors that go with each step in your flow chart. e. Use your flow chart and conversion factors to determine the number of ps in 2.5 Ms. f. Does your answer agree with your prediction from question 4b? 5. Follow the steps from question 4 to determine how many kg is equivalent to 1.8 x 104 µg. 3 6. Most food packaging lists the amount of product in the container in at least 2 di_erent units of measurement. If a bottle of orange juice states it has a total volume of 89 fluid ounces (fl oz) does this agree with the other portion of the label which states it contains 2.63 L? a. Which is a larger volume, 1 fluid ounce or 1 L? b. Write out a flow chart to go from fluid ounces to L. Be sure to include any conversion factors you will need to go between di_erent units of measurement. c. Show all of your work to convert 89 fl oz to L. Show all of your work. d. This label also states that it contains 2.7 quarts. Is this correct based on the amount it states it contains in fl oz? 7. You and your PAL team have just won the “No-Bull” prize for being the best PAL team ever! Now you have to decide which of the following samples of gold to accept as your prize! a. a. Which sample did your team select? Justify your answer in the spaces provided. 4 Sample A: 2.0 x 10-6 tons of gold Sample B: 0.020 lb of gold Sample C: 2.0 x 1022 gold atoms Sample D: 2.0 x 106 µg of gold b. If the prize is evenly divided among 4 people, how much is your individual prize worth if gold sells for 1785.39/troy ounce? 1 troy ounce = 31.103 grams 5 8. Methylmercury is a toxin commonly found in the tuna that we eat. Di_erent species of tuna have di_erent levels of this toxin. It is suggested that a person should limit the amount of methylmercury they ingest to less than 315 ng (nano grams) per 1 lb. of body weight per week. The table below shows the amount of methyl mercury found in various types of tuna commonly available. Would it exceed the suggested limit of methylmercury if someone weighing 200 lbs. eats 266 grams of light tuna (the amount in 2 cans of tuna) in one week? How about if they eat the same amount of yellow tuna in one week? Albacore? Species Methylmercury per 3.00 ounces Light tuna (canned) 1.071 x 10-2 mg Yellowfin tuna 3.009 x 10-2 mg Albacore tuna 3.043 x 10-2 mg 6