Backpackers often use canisters of white gas to fuel a cooking stove’s burner
Backpackers often use canisters of white gas to fuel a cooking stove’s burner. If one canister contains 1.45 L of white gas, and the density of the gas is 0.710 g/cm^3, what is the mass of the fuel in kilograms?
The above problem was addressing the topic of conversions in chapter 1. After reading the factors given, it was clear that the solution would come from the formula d = m/v (density = mass/volume). I first went to the conversion tables at 1.2 and 1.3 in the book to obtain the proper rates for the calculations. I have attached both tables below. Since the problem gave the values for volume (1.45 L) and density (0.710 g/cm^3), the equation would have to be manipulated to solve for mass.
The new equation would then be m = d x v. Now that I had the correctly formatted equation, I noticed that the measurements given were not directly convertible. Thus, I would first have to convert the 1.45 L of white gas to mL’s. I then had to convert the mL’s to cm^3 in order to find the find the density in g/cm^3. The result left me with 1,450 which I converted to g (grams) by multiplying it by 0.710 from the conversion tables noted above. This left me with a result of 1,029.5 g which I converted to kg (kilograms) by multiplying by 1 kg/1000g. my final answer to the mass was 1.03 kg. The equation described in this paragraph is notated below.
1.45 L = (1 mL/10^-3 L) x (1 cm^3/1 mL) x (0.710/1 cm^3) x (1 kg/1000g)
I have gone back and forth as to whether my answer as it stands (1.03 kg) is correctly displayed or if it should be written in powers of 10 (i.e. .010 x 10^-2 kg). Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
My work is attached below.