Prentice Hall Chemistry Chapter 3 Vocabulary

Front 1

absolute zero

Back 1

The zero point on the Kelvin temperature scale; equivalent to -273.15 degrees Celcius

Front 2

accepted value

Back 2

a quantity used by general agreement of the scientific community

Front 3

accuracy

Back 3

the closeness of a measurement to the true value of what is being measured

Front 4

calorie (cal)

Back 4

the quantity of heat needed to raise the temperature or 1 gram of pure water to 1 degree Celcius

Front 5

Celcius scale

Back 5

the temperature scale on which the freesing point of water is 0 degrees Celcius and the boiling point is 100 degrees Celcius.

Front 6

conversion factor

Back 6

a ratio of equivalent measurements used to convert a quantity from one unit to another

Front 7

density

Back 7

the ration of the mass of an object to its volume

Front 8

dimensional analysis

Back 8

a technique of problem solving that uses the units that are part of a measurement to help solve the problem

Front 9

energy

Back 9

the capacity for doing work or producing heat

Front 10

error

Back 10

the difference between the accepted balue and the experimental value

Front 11

experimental value

Back 11

a quantitative value measured during an experiment

Front 12

gram

Back 12

a metric mass unit equal to the mass of 1 cubic centimeter of water at 4 degrees Celcius

Front 13

international system of units

Back 13

the revised version of the metric system, adopted by international agreement in 1960

Front 14

joule

Back 14

the SI unit of energy; 4.184 J equals one calorie

Front 15

Kelvin scale

Back 15

the temperature scale in which the freezing point of water is 273 K and the boiling point is 373 K; 0 K is absolute zero

Front 16

kilogram

Back 16

the mass of 1 liter of water at 4 degrees Celcius; it is the base unit of mass in SI

Front 17

liter

Back 17

the volume of a cube measuring 10 cm on each edge (1000 cubic centimeters); it is the common unprefixed unit of volume in the metric system

Front 18

measurement

Back 18

a quantitative description that includes both a number and a unit

Front 19

meter

Back 19

the base unit in SI

Front 20

percent error

Back 20

the percent that a measured value differs from the accepted value

Front 21

precision

Back 21

descibes the closeness, or reproducibility of a set of measurements taken under the same conditions

Front 22

scientific notation

Back 22

an expression of numbers in the form m x 10 (n) where M is equal or greater than 1 and less than 10 and n is an integer

Front 23

scientific figures

Back 23

all the digits that can be known precisely in a measurement, plus a last estimated digit

Front 24

termperature

Back 24

a measure of the average kinetic energy of particles in matter, temperature determines the direction of heat transfer

Front 25

weight

Back 25

a force that measures the pull of gravity on a given mass