I am trying to find pressure.
R=.0821
T=1273 K
V=2
n=.0997
When I put .0997 in the PV=nRT equation I get 5.2 atm, and when I put in .09 I get 4.7 atm.
Which answer should I put? Which is more accurate?
Use the sig fig rule. Lowest number of digits.
I would put 5.2 atm
When I use the lowest number of digits (i think your talking about .09) I get 4.7atm.
I mean I multiplied everything out and then I figured out how many sig figs there should be. I would use the exact numbers that the problem gives you.
Ok. Thank you.
I would use 0.0997 for n. Then I would use 0.08206 for R. That gives me 5.207 and round that to the number of s.f. you have. If the 2 for V is 2 then you have only 1 s.f. so the answer would be 5 atm. If it is 2.0 or 2.00, then I would round to 5.2 or 5.21 respectively. My philosophy is to use all the digits you know for everything and let the calculator carry all those extra places, then round at the end. To round ahead of time makes too many rounding errors. By the way, you wouldn't round 0.0997 to 0.09 anyway. You would round it to 0.1 if you were doing it that way. YOu can see that using 0.09 makes a HUGE difference in the answer.
To determine which answer is more accurate, we can calculate the percent error for each calculation. The formula for percent error is:
Percent error = [(experimental value - accepted value) / accepted value] * 100
First, let's calculate the percent error for the calculation using n = 0.0997:
Percent error = [(5.2 atm - accepted value) / accepted value] * 100
We don't have the accepted value, so we'll calculate the percent error relative to the value obtained using n = 0.09:
Percent error = [(5.2 atm - 4.7 atm) / 4.7 atm] * 100
Now, let's calculate the percent error for the calculation using n = 0.09:
Percent error = [(4.7 atm - accepted value) / accepted value] * 100
Since we need the accepted value to calculate the percent error, we'll calculate the percent error relative to the value obtained using n = 0.0997:
Percent error = [(4.7 atm - 5.2 atm) / 5.2 atm] * 100
By comparing the percent errors for both calculations, we can determine which result is more accurate. The calculation with the lower percent error is considered more accurate.
It's important to note that without the accepted value, we cannot definitively determine which result is more accurate. The accepted value may be a known value or a value obtained through experimentation, and it is necessary for calculating the percent error.