4. Complete the following unit conversions. Be sure to show all work, express your answer in the appropriate number of significant figures, and include units.

Question

4. Complete the following unit conversions. Be sure to show all work, express your answer in the appropriate number of significant figures, and include units.

e. The average distance between nitrogen and oxygen atoms is 115 pm in a compound called nitric oxide. What is this distance in decimeters?

Answer 1

Joey B., this is not "rocket science". Look up what the prefix "p" stands for in the metric system; then multiply by a conversion factor (which is just the number one, in reality, BUT expressed in terms of the quotient of two metric units of quite different sizes). So (for example only!) let's say pm stands for 10^(-3)m and dm stands for 10^(-2)m. Then how many pm would there be in a dm? You reverse the unit sizes to do the ratio, so calculate as 10^(-2)/10^(-3) = 10. So, (10 pm/1 dm) == really stands for the value 1, because these two measurements (10 pm and 1 dm) are the same length, so that ratio really stands for the value 1. It just looks like 10 pm/dm, because the units applied change how you write the value 1. Note that the real unit sizes may not be what I just used for my example, you need to look them up.

So, you need the conversion factor to multiply 115 pm, to convert to ___ dm. So, in order to cancel units in your multiplication, you are going to need a conversion factor with units dm/pm , aren't you.

Go for it!

-- Cheers, -- Mr. d.

P.S. for a bonus, look up the important role that NO plays in the human body. Your body does chemistry!