Question

What are the best strategies for identifying where to begin unit conversions?

Answer 1

To begin unit conversions you want to write down all the given information you have in the problem including what the question is asking for.

Example: How many moles of sodium are there in a 0.59 gram sample of sodium metal.

1. Given info: 0.59 grams Na
   moles Na=?
   In this simple example we see that the question is asking for the moles of sodium, so when we know that when we convert we should be left with moles as our only unit .
2. Now that you know what units you need to end up with, we need to find something that relates our given units ( grams ) to our desired unit ( moles .)

A simple connection for grams`->`moles is given by the molar mass !
1 mol Na=23 grams Na

Now , Set up your problem:

0.59 grams Na `* (1 mol Na)/(23 grams Na)=0.026 mol Na`

Since we cancelled our units properlly (`grams*(mol)/(grams)=mol`) we know that our solution must be correct!