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Topic: General Chemistry practice question  (Read 973 times)

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Offline IslamAK

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General Chemistry practice question
« on: August 12, 2020, 06:58:44 PM »
So the question is basically asking you to find the error in the way a student solves a chemistry question. I correctly identified the issue which was not converting kg to g. I did so but as seen in the pictures the 759 g/L becomes 759*g*L^-1. Why did the grams not cancel out and why did it go from g/L to g*L^-1, also why is there a negative 1?
Sorry if this is asking a lot.

Offline Borek

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Re: General Chemistry practice question
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2020, 03:16:40 AM »
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponentiation#Negative_exponents

Yes, grams should cancel out, apparently the solution is not complete.
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Offline Babcock_Hall

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Re: General Chemistry practice question
« Reply #2 on: August 13, 2020, 09:30:18 PM »
g/L and g L-1 are different ways of writing the same thing, unless I am missing something.

Offline Meter

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Re: General Chemistry practice question
« Reply #3 on: August 15, 2020, 08:09:14 PM »
This is a basic exponent rule.
[tex]\frac{1}{x} = x^{-1}[/tex]
So,
[tex]\frac{g}{L} = g \frac{1}{L} = g L^{-1}[/tex]
Additionaly, recall that
[tex]\frac{a}{\frac{b}{c}} = \frac{ac}{b}[/tex]
If you are using software, it is possible that it can't equate kg to g, which means you have to convert g/L to kg/L.

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