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GOB Chemistry

Learn the toughest concepts covered in your GOB - General, Organic, and Biological Chemistry class with step-by-step video tutorials and practice problems.

Matter and Measurements

Conversion Factors (Simplified)

Conversion Factors are used to tie together 2 different units. 

Conversion Factors & Given Amounts
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Conversion Factors (Simplified) Concept 1

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so in our exploration of chemistry, eventually going to reach a topic called dimensional analysis, which can be thought of as more complex word problems where our job is to isolate a particular unit. Now a key component of dimensional analysis is the conversion factor. The conversion factor can be thought of as just simply a ratio or fraction that ties together two different units. Not, for example, we can say that a day is composed of 24 hours, So this is saying that one day equals hours. It is a conversion factor because it is tying together day as a unit with ours, which is a different unit. To make it into a conversion factor, we have to change it into a fraction of ratio so we can set it up as one day is. 24 hours or 24 hours is one day. So there were combining these two different types of units and showing their relationship to one another. Besides a conversion factor, we can also have a given amount. Now, a given amount is just a value containing Onley one unit, for example. We spent three hours studying chemistry today and trust me. There will be times when you're spending that many hours orm or in preparation for a quiz or exam. So here are given amount is just three hours. I am not tying those three hours to any other units, so it's just three hours by itself. And it's these combinations up conversion factors and given amounts that will be vital in our understanding of dimensional analysis. But again, before we get to dementia analysis, let's look over some questions where it's just our responsibility to help identify the conversion factors and given amounts within the particular question. So click on the next video. Let's get started.

The given amount contains one unit type and the conversion factor connects two different units together.

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Conversion Factors (Simplified) Example 1

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so clutches ugly but good chocolate chip cookie recipe is always a hit at our office parties. My budget is $80. The recipe makes 18 servings for the party. Each serving requires a chocolate truffle chips at a cost of 50 cents per five. Chocolate truffle chips from the information provided determined a given amount. In all, conversion factors now are given amount. Remember, that's when we have only one unit That's it, are given amount has to be the $80 because they're not saying $80 connected to some other units, it's just dollars by itself. The conversion factors though these air. When we have two units bonded together to different units bonded together, This one is a little bit trickier. If we look at the sentence after the $80 budget, they tell me the recipe makes 18 servings so that there is a conversion factor. The conversion factor is one recipe has 18 servings. Okay, because recipe and serving their two different units, let's look at the next line. Each serving requires ate chocolate truffle chips so servings. Each serving has this many chocolate truffle chips. That's also a conversion factor because it's one serving is eight chocolate truffle chips, which I'll abbreviate as CTC. They tell me that it is 50 cents per five. The word per there definitely is a big help because it tells us that the that amount of 50 cents and five are connected together. So then that would be our last conversion factor. So 50 cents for every five chocolate truffle chips. Eventually, when we move on to dementia analysis later on, we'll see how these units cancel out with one another and help us isolate our final value. But remember, ah, given amount has one unit. Ah, conversion factor is two different units mixed together. Now that we've seen this first example, let's continue onward with practice questions.
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Conversion Factors (Simplified) Concept 2

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Now remember that a conversion factor deals with two units combined together and when it comes to our conversion factors, the most common ones involved length, volume or mass. Remember we see a lot of different conversion factors here, but only the ones that are highlighted in purple. You should commit to memory. The others will given be given to you within the word problem that you're solving or some type of formula sheet. So let's start out with length. We know here that 1" is 2. cm. So you need to commit that to memory. Next we can say that one yard is equal to three ft. One kilometer is 10.6 to 14 miles. one m is 1.094 yards and one mile is 5280 ft for volume. The first two in purple. All the ones you need to memorize and that's one. Middle leader equals one son leaders cubed and one millimeter is equal to one CC. Next we can say that one liter is equal to 1.057 quarts. One leader is one Destin meters cubed, one fluid ounces equal to 29 mm And one gallon is L. For mass, tablets can come in. Different types of mass is the most common. One is when one tablet is equal to 254 mg. Now, if they're talking about a tablet and they don't give you the mass. Usually they mean 250 mg tablet. But check the question. Sometimes the tablet, maybe a different mass and they'll tell you that new mass associated with it. All right. Next, we can say here that £1 is equal to approximately 454 g. one ounce is 28 35g And then finally one kg is £2.205. So these are all types of common conversion factors that you come into contact with when doing different types of problems. Remember only the ones that are highlighted in purple. You should commit to memory.
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Conversion Factors (Simplified) Example 2

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So here in this example question, it says while packing for a trip to Spain, a traveler wishes toe way their luggage to make sure it doesn't exceed kg. Unfortunately, their bathroom scale for some reason, can, on leeway, announces what conversion factors could they use to determine the mass off their luggage. All right, so when this question they're telling us that we don't wanna go over kg. Kilograms is not attached to any other unit. So 23 must represent are given amount. We have 23 kg, and what we need to do here is we need to find a way of dealing with ounces. Okay, so we have to find a way of converting these kilograms in tow ounces because we're dealing with mass values. We know that the conversion factors we're gonna have to utilize have to do with mass in some way. Now, we've kind of done this before when we did metric prefix conversions. We want to get rid of these kilograms. To get rid of these kilograms, we have to place them here on the bottom. And if we go to the conversion factors for mass, we see that kilograms are right here and we wanna get two ounces, right? Well, kilograms are attached to grams by way of metric prefix conversions on. We wanna goto grams because grams are connected to ounces here, we're not going to solve for it here. We're just setting up the conversion factors necessary for us to isolate ounces. We're just getting the hang of this whole idea of conversion factors given amounts and their general positions in dimensional analysis. Don't worry about calculations yet. We're kind of slowly building our way up to questions like that. Alright, so kilograms go here, which will be connected to, um, toe grams over here. Since this is a metric prefix conversion, remember that the coefficient of one is always associate ID or always next to the metric prefix. And remember, from our metric prefix multipliers, 1 kg is 10 to the three. So we started out here by using our conversion factor. So now kilograms are gone. Now we have grams, grams are connected to ounces. So we're gonna bring this conversion factor in right. So we're gonna say here that grands go here ounces go here and the the conversion factor up here says that one ounce is equal to 28 0. g grams would cancel lot and we'll be left with ounces. So for this question, the conversion factors that we have to use is this metric prefix conversion factor of 10 to the 3 g over 1 kg and one ounce over 28. g. Those are the two the two conversion factors would utilize in order to safely convert kilograms into ounces. We see that in everyday processes we can incorporate chemistry and we can incorporate these different types of mathematical operations. Now that we've seen this example, let's move on and continue our discussion on conversion factors and given amounts.
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Problem

A patient has approximately 83 mL of blood pumping by their heart at each beat. By assuming they have a pulse of 75 beats per minute it is calculated that the patient pumps 8.964 x 106 mL in one day. Identify the given amount and all conversion factors.

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Problem

For 7 hours, an intravenous bag delivers medication to a patient at a rate of 2.75 drops a second with a mass of 42 mg per drop. Identify the given amount and all conversion factors.

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The dispensing of prescription drugs are usually prescribed in units of mg per kg of body weight. A new prescription drug has a recommended dosage of 11 mg/kg. A 75 lb child requires three tablets each weighing 125 mg for their recommended dosage. Identify the given amount and all conversion factors.

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