Chapter 1: Introduction, Measurement, Estimating

Conceptual Questions

1) Four students measure the mass of an object, each using a different scale. They record their results as follows:

Student A B C D
Mass (g ) 49.06 49 50 49.2

Which student used the least precise scale?

A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D

2) Four students measure the mass of an object, each using a different scale. They record their results as follows:

Student A B C D
Mass (g ) 49.06 49 50 49.2

Which student used the most precise scale?

A) A
B) B
C) C
D) D

3) A useful method of expressing very small or very large numbers is

A) scientific notation.
B) arabic numerals.
C) the metric system.
D) roman numerals.

4) All of the following are base units of the SI system except:

A) kilogram.
B) kelvin.
C) meter.
D) volt.

5) Select the list which contains only SI basic units.

A) liter, meter, second, watt
B) joule, kelvin, kilogram, watt
C) candela, kelvin, meter, second
D) joule, newton, second, watt

6) How many basic units does the SI system have?

A) four
B) five
C) seven
D) ten

1
7) The base SI unit of time is
A) hour.
B) minute.
C) second.
D) millisecond.

8) In the CGS system, what are the fundamental units?

A) Newton, centimeter, second
B) kilogram, meter, second
C) gram, centimeter, minute
D) gram, centimeter, second

9) The metric prefix for one one-thousandth is

A) milli.
B) centi.
C) kilo.
D) mega.

10) The metric prefix for one one-hundredth is

A) milli.
B) centi.
C) kilo.
D) mega.

11) The metric prefix for one thousand is

A) milli.
B) centi.
C) kilo.
D) mega.

12) Express the number 0.02 days using a prefix of Table 1-4.
A) 2 decidays
B) 2 centidays
C) 2 millidays
D) 2 microdays

13) What is the conversion factor between km/h and m/s?

A) 0.0278 m/s
B) 0.278 m/s
C) 3.60 m/s
D) 16.7 m/s

14) What is the conversion factor between km/h2 and m/s2?

A) 7.72 × 10-6 m/s2
B) 2.78 × 10-1 m/s2
C) 1.30 × 104 m/s2
D) 3.60 m/s2

2
15) What is the conversion factor between cm2 and m2?
A) 0.01 m2/cm2
B) 0.0001 m2/cm2
C) 100 m2/cm2
D) 10000 m2/cm2

16) The position, x, of an object is given by the equation x = A + Bt +Ct2, where t refers to time. What are the
dimensions of A, B, and C?
A) distance, distance, distance
B) distance, time, time2
C) distance, distance/time, distance/ time2
D) distance/time, distance/ time2, distance/ time3

Quantitative Problems

1) What is the percent uncertainty in the measurement 2.58 ± 0.15 cm?

A) 2.9%
B) 5.8%
C) 8.7%
D) 12%

2) What, approximately, is the percent uncertainty for the measurement 5.2?

A) 1%
B) 2%
C) 3%
D) 4%

3) What is the percent uncertainty in the area of a circle whose radius is 1.8 × 104 cm?
A) 1.1%
B) 5.6%
C) 11%
D) 56%

4) What is the volume, and its approximate uncertainty, of a sphere of radius 1.96 ± 0.01 m?
A) 31.5 ± 0.2 m2
B) 31.5 ± 0.3 m2
C) 31.5 ± 0.4 m2
D) 31.5 ± 0.5 m2

5) The number of significant figures in 10001 is

A) two.
B) three.
C) five.
D) six.

6) The number of significant figures in 0.01500 is

A) two.
B) three.
C) four.
D) five.

3
7) The number of significant figures in 0.040 is
A) one.
B) two.
C) three.
D) four.

8) Which of the following has three significant figures?

A) 305.0 cm
B) 0.0500 mm
C) 1.00081 kg
D) 8.060 × 1011 m2

9) What is the sum of 2.67 + 1.976 + 2.1?

A) 6.7
B) 6.75
C) 6.746
D) 6.7460

10) What is the difference between 103.5 and 102.24?

A) 1.3
B) 1.26
C) 1.260
D) 1.2600

11) What is the product of 12.56 and 2.12?

A) 27
B) 26.6
C) 26.23
D) 26.627

12) What is the result of 2.43 ÷ 4.561?

A) 5.3278 × 10-1
B) 5.328 × 10-1
C) 5.33 × 10-1
D) 5.3 × 10-1

13) What is the cosine of 55°?

A) 0.6
B) 0.57
C) 0.574
D) 0.5736

14) The length and width of a rectangle are 1.125 m and 0.606 m, respectively. Multiplying, your calculator gives
the product as 0.68175. Rounding properly to the correct number of significant figures, the area should be written as
A) 0.68 m2.
B) 0.682 m2.
C) 0.6818 m2.
D) 0.68175 m2.

4
15) The length and width of a rectangle are 1.125 m and 0.606 m, respectively. You calculate the rectangle's
perimeter by adding these and multiplying by two. Your calculator's display reads 3.462. To the correct number of
significant figures, this should be written as
A) 3.5 m.
B) 3.46 m.
C) 3.462 m.
D) 3.4620 m.

16) A rectangle is 3.25 m long and 1.5 m wide. What is its area?
A) 4.875 m2
B) 4.87 m2
C) 4.80 m2
D) 4.9 m2

17) A rectangular garden measures 15 m long and 13.7 m wide. What is the length of a diagonal from one corner of
the garden to the other?
A) 18 m
B) 19 m
C) 20 m
D) 4.1 × 102 m

18) Select the smallest value.

A) 15 × 10-3
B) 0.15 × 100
C) 0.00015 × 103
D) 0.00000015 × 106

19) Write the number 0.00045 in power of ten notation.

A) 4.5 × 10-4
B) 4.5 × 10-3
C) 4.5 × 10-2
D) 4.5 × 10-1

20) 0.0001776 can also be expressed as

A) 1.776 × 10-4.
B) 17.72 × 104.
C) 1772 × 105.
D) 177.2 × 107.

21) 4567.89 is properly expressed in scientific notation as

A) 4.56789 × 103.
B) 45.6789 × 102.
C) 456.789 × 101.
D) 4567.89 × 100.

5
22) Convert 1.2 × 10-3 to decimal notation.
A) 1.200
B) 0.1200
C) 0.0120
D) 0.0012

23) Write out the number 8.42 × 10-5 in full with a decimal point and correct number of zeros.
A) 0.00000842
B) 0.0000842
C) 0.000842
D) 0.00842

24) What is the result of (0.410 + 0.021) × (2.20 × 103)?

A) 880
B) 946
C) 948
D) 950

25) Write the number 13.5 gigameters as full (decimal) numbers with standard units.
A) 135,000 m
B) 135,000,000 m
C) 135,000,000,000 m
D) 13,500,000,000 m

26) 100 mL is equivalent to which of the following?

A) 1 kL
B) 10-6 ȝL
C) 0.1 L
D) 0.01 ML

27) How many grams is forty milligrams?

A) 0.0000 40 g
B) 0.000 40 g
C) 0.0 40 g
D) 40000 g

28) How many meters is sixty kilometers?

A) 600,000 m
B) 60,000 m
C) 60 m
D) 0.0 6 m

29) 1 angstrom = 10-10 m and 1 fermi = 10-15 m, what is the relationship between these units?
A) 1 angstrom = 105 fermi
B) 1 angstrom = 10-5 fermi
C) 1 angstrom = 10-25 fermi
D) 1 angstrom = 10+25 fermi

6
30) 0.00325 × 10-8 cm can also be expressed in mm as
A) 3.25 × 10-12 mm.
B) 3.25 × 10-11 mm.
C) 3.25 × 10-10 mm.
D) 3.25 × 10-9 mm.

31) Which one of the following is not equivalent to 2.50 miles? (1 mi = 1.609 km = 5280 ft, 1 ft = 12 in.)
A) 1.32 × 104 ft
B) 1.58 × 105 in.
C) 4.02 × 103 km
D) 4.40 × 103 yd

32) If you are 5'10'' tall, what is your height in meters? (1 in = 2.54 cm.)
A) 1.5 m
B) 1.6 m
C) 1.7 m
D) 1.8 m

33) If 1 inch = 2.54 cm, and 1 yd = 36 in., how many meters are in 7.00 yd?
A) 6.40 m
B) 36.3 m
C) 640 m
D) 1.78 × 103 m

34) A hot air balloon rises to an altitude of 600 fathoms. What is this height, in feet? (1 fathom = 6 ft.)
A) 100 ft
B) 600 ft
C) 1200 ft
D) 3600 ft

35) The average life of an animal is 70 years. Assume one numerical figure, write this in power of ten in seconds.
A) 3 × 107 s
B) 2 × 107 s
C) 2 × 109 s
D) 3 × 109 s

36) The mass of an electron is 9.1 × 10-31 kg. How many electrons will make a mass of 1.0 kg?
A) 9.1 × 1030
B) 1.1 × 1030
C) 9.1 × 1031
D) 1.1 × 1031

37) How many m/s is 50 mi/h equivalent to? (1 mi = 1609 m.)

A) 49 m/s
B) 2.2 m/s
C) 22 m/s
D) 45 m/s

7
38) How much longer (percentage) is a 100 m dash than a 100 yd dash? (1 yd = 0.9146 m.)
A) 3.5%
B) 6.5%
C) 8.5%
D) 12%

39) Which is the largest area?

A) 2,500,000 cm2
B) 100,000 cm2
C) 7.5 m2
D) 0.75 m2

40) If 1 inch = 2.54 cm, how many square centimeters are in 1.00 square in.?
A) 1.59
B) 2.54
C) 5.08
D) 6.45

41) Express the following sum with the correct number of significant figures: 1.00 kg + 1531 g + 2.54 × 104 mg.
A) 2.56 kg
B) 27.9 kg
C) 2.53 kg
D) 2.79 kg

42) A football field is 120 yd long and 50 yd wide. What is the area of the football field, in m2, if 1 yd = 91.44 cm?
A) 2.4 × 103 m2
B) 3.7 × 103 m2
C) 4.2 × 103 m2
D) 5.0 × 103 m2

43) A ball has a radius of 3.23 cm. What is the volume of the ball in m3?
A) 1.41 × 10-4
B) 1.41
C) 4.23 × 10-4
D) 4.23

44) A thick-walled metal pipe of length 20.0 cm has an inside diameter of 2.00 cm and an outside diameter of 2.40
cm. What is the total surface area of the pipe, counting the ends, in m2?
A) 276
B) 277
C) 278
D) 279

45) The radius of the Earth is 3963 mi. What is the surface area of the Earth in square meters? (1 mi = 1609 m.)
A) 4.9 × 107 m2
B) 1.3 × 1014 m2
C) 2.6 × 1014 m2
D) 5.1 × 1014 m2

8
46) The average density of blood is 1.06 × 103 kg/m3. If you donate a pint of blood to the Red Cross, what mass of
blood have you donated, in grams? (1 pt = 1/2 L, 1 L = 1000 cm3.)
A) 530 g
B) 0.530 g
C) 5300 g
D) 5.30 × 105 g

47) The mass of Mars, 6.40 × 1023 kg, is about one-tenth that of the Earth, and its radius, 3395 km, is about half
that of Earth. What is the mean density of Mars in kg/m3?
A) 9.76 × 102
B) 1.95 × 103
C) 3.90 × 103
D) 7.81 × 103

48) Concrete is sold by the cubic yard. What is the mass, in kilograms, of one cubic yard of concrete that is five
times as dense as water? (1 m = 1.094 yd, and 1 m3 of water has a mass of 1,000 kg.)
A) 764 kg
B) 2.42 × 103 kg
C) 3.82 × 103 kg
D) 6.55 × 103 kg

49) An average human has a heart rate of 70 beats per minute. If someone's heart beats at that average rate over a
70-yr lifetime, how many times would it beat?
A) 7× 105
B) 2 × 106
C) 2 × 107
D) 3 × 109

50) A large school district has 300 school buses. If each school bus is used 3 hours each day, the average speed of
the school buses is 15 mi/h, and the fuel economy of the buses is 10 mi/gal. How much does it cost to run these
buses in 22 school days if gasoline costs $1.20 a gallon?
A) $600
B) $1200
C) $1800
D) $2400

51) A person stands 35.0 m from a flag pole. With a protractor at eye level, he finds that the angle at the top of the
flag pole makes with the horizontal is 25.0 degrees. How high is the flag pole? (The distance from his feet to his
eyes is 1.7 m.)
A) 10 m
B) 20 m
C) 30 m
D) 80 m

52) Starting from city A, a car drives 250 miles east to city B, then 300 miles north to city C, and finally 700 miles
west to city D. What is the distance between city A and city D?
A) 300 mi
B) 400 mi
C) 500 mi
D) 600 mi

9
53) The last page of a book is numbered 764. The book is 3.00 cm thick. What is the average thickness of a sheet
of paper in the book, in centimeters?
A) 4 × 10-3
B) 8 × 10-3
C) 100
D) 200

54) Wall posters are usually sold curled up in cylindrical cardboard tubes. If the length of the tube is 84.5 cm, and
the diameter of the tube is 2.40 cm, what is the area of the poster, in cm2? (Assume the poster doesn't overlap itself.)
A) 200 cm2
B) 400 cm2
C) 600 cm2
D) 2000 cm2

10