What are scientific units?
First and most importantly, forget the English system of measurement of pounds and ounces and feet. IT IS USELESS BECAUSE IT IS SO CONFUSING. Not even the English widely use it any more. Doesn’t that tell you something about its’ practicality?
If you are going to pursue any kind of science career, you will have to be good with the metric system. In order to get an A or B in a chemistry class, you at least have to have a decent understanding. If you were raised in the United States like I was, this part of your education was probably denied to you.
Thankfully, in most chemistry classes the percent of the metric system that you have to memorize is fairly small. Below is a table of most of the basic units you will have to know for your chemistry class. Most of these are SI units but not all. MEMORIZE THEM!!!
Chemistry Units:
Category | Name of unit | Abbreviation |
mass | Grams | g |
distance | Meters | m |
volume | Liters | L |
time | Seconds | s |
amount | moles | mol |
temperature | Kelvin | K |
Below are also some problems to test you after you have done your memorization.
Examples: Identify what category each number and its corresponding units are.
Numbers with Units |
Category |
240s |
time |
3mol |
amount |
68g |
mass |
PRACTICE PROBLEMS: Identify what category each number and its corresponding units are.
Numbers with Units |
Category |
300K |
temperature |
25L |
volume |
12s |
time |
9g |
mass |
10mol |
amount |
76m |
distance |
Also be able to think and answer the unit questions in the opposite direction like the practice problems below.
PRACTICE PROBLEMS: Identify the abbreviation for each unit category.
Category |
Unit Abbreviation |
time |
s |
distance |
m |
volume |
L |
amount |
mol |
mass |
g |
temperature |
K |