Scientific notation

(noun)

A way of writing numbers that are too big or too small to be conveniently written in standard form.

Related Terms

  • Order of Magnitude
  • integer

Examples of Scientific notation in the following topics:

  • Scientific Notation

    • Scientific notation is a more convenient way of writing very small or very large numbers.
    • When writing in scientific notation, only include significant figures in the real number, "a."
    • Therefore, our number in scientific notation would be: $4.56 \times 10^5$.
    • Scientific notation enables comparisons between orders of magnitude.
    • Learn to convert numbers into and out of scientific notation.
  • Significant Figures

    • Any numbers in scientific notation are considered significant.
    • When converting from decimal form to scientific notation, always maintain the same number of significant figures.
    • For example, 0.00012 has two significant figures, therefore the correct scientific notation for this number would be 1.2 x 10-4.
  • Electrochemical Cell Notation

    • Cell notation is shorthand that expresses a certain reaction in an electrochemical cell.
    • Cell notations are a shorthand description of voltaic or galvanic (spontaneous) cells.
    • If the electrolytes in the cells are not at standard conditions, concentrations and/or pressure, they are included in parentheses with the phase notation.
    • Using these rules, the notation for the cell we put together is:
    • Produce the appropriate electrochemical cell notation for a given electrochemical reaction
  • Curved Arrow Notation

  • Formulas Using Other Configurational Notations

  • Fischer Projection Formulas

    • The wedge and hatched line notations we have been using are effective, but can be troublesome when applied to compounds having many chiral centers.
    • As part of his Nobel Prize-winning research on carbohydrates, the great German chemist Emil Fischer, devised a simple notation that is still widely used.
    • Using the Fischer projection notation, the stereoisomers of 2-methylamino-1-phenylpropanol are drawn in the following manner.
    • The usefulness of this notation to Fischer, in his carbohydrate studies, is evident in the following diagram.
  • The Building-Up (Aufbau) Principle

    • A special type of notation is used to write an atom's electron configuration.
    • The notation describes the energy levels, orbitals, and the number of electrons in each.
    • Using standard notation, the electron configuration of fluorine is 1s22s22p5.
  • Stereochemical Notations

    • Since these configurational change notations are not appropriate for pericyclic reactions, new designations are needed.
    • A different notation for configurational change is required for electrocyclic reactions.
  • Balancing Nuclear Equations

    • An example of this notation follows:
    • Instead of using the full equations in the style above, in many situations a compact notation is used to describe nuclear reactions.
  • Cycloaddition Reactions

    • These notations are illustrated in the drawing on the right.
    • Also note that the pi-subscript is often omitted from the [m+n] notation for the majority of cycloadditions involving π-electron systems.
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