Significant Figures Example Chemistry Problem

Here are three examples determining significant figures. When asked to find significant figures, remember and follow these simple rules: Any nonzero digit is significant.A zero between two nonzero digits is always significant.Trailing zeros are significant if they are at the end of a number and to the right of the decimal point.Leading zeros to the left of the first nonzero digit are not significant. For example, placeholder zeros in the number 0.005 are not significant (only the 5 is significant).If a number ends with a zero, but it is not to the right of a decimal point, it may or may not be significant. Generally, its safest to assume it is not significant. If you take a measurement where the final zero is significant, be sure to include the decimal point to make yourself clear. Significant Figure Example Problem Three students weigh an item using different scales. These are the values they report: a. 20.03 gb. 20.0 gc. 0.2003 kg How many significant figures should be assumed in each measurement? Solution a. 4.b. 3. The zero after the decimal point is significant because it indicates that the item was weighed to the nearest 0.1 g.c. 4. The zeros at the left are not significant. They are only present because the mass was written in kilograms rather than in grams. The values 20.03 g and 0.02003 kg represent the same quantities. Answer In addition to the solution presented above, be advised you can get the correct answers very quickly by expressing the masses in scientific (exponential) notation: 20.03 g 2.003 x 101 g (4 significant figures)20.0 g 2.00 x 101 g (3 significant figures)0.2003 kg 2.003 x 10-1 kg (4 significant figures)

An Unfolding of William Blakes quot; the Chimney...

An Unfolding of William Blakes The Chimney Sweeper. William Blakes poem The Chimney Sweeper gives us a look into the unfortunate lives of 18th century London boys whose primary job was to clear chimneys of the soot that accumulated on its interior; boys that were named climbing boys or chimney sweepers. Blake, a professional engraver, wrote this poem (aabb rhyme), in the voice of a young boy, an uneducated chimney sweeper. This speaker is obviously a persona, a fictitious character created by Blake, as it is apparent that he wasnt a child or a chimney sweeper at the time he wrote this poem. The Chimney Sweeper is divided in six stanzas; the first stanza of this narrative poem starts off with the young chimney sweeper,†¦show more content†¦The voice of the story, the young boy, in the seventh verse showed compassion for the new climbing boy and by doing this he made visible to us that the real child in him had not died, that although he had to work in conditions that were not suitable for a boy his age, he still kept his humanity. In the poems next 2 stanzas the narrator speaks about a dream that Tom Dacre had the same day his youth was taken from him. He had dreamt that sweepers whom he knew where all of them locked up in coffins of black. The black color of these coffins means, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, seriously bad or unfortunate, associated with severely bad conditions or misfortune. The coffins, which are a container in which a dead body is placed for a burial (OED), represent all of them being trapped in this miserable black world where, ironically, children worked to make money for adults. The entire dream is influenced by Toms fear of being trapped in this hell for all his life. Later, in the fifth stanza an Angel appeared in Toms dream that opened up the coffins and set them free of their misfortune. This angel that freed them can be considered as an omen, a sign that shows how something, good or bad, will happen in the future. Tom ran down a flat expanse of land with the sweepers where they had fun and washed themselves up. The words bright and shine Blake used in verses thirteen

Argument for the legalization of Marijuana Free Essays

Can I see a show of hands how many people have ever smoked Cannabis, also known as Marijuana? I see none of you have raised your hands. Well evidently no one would want to admit to a criminal action in front of others from their community. But why is it that smoking ‘pot’ is so forbidden in our society? George Washington said, â€Å"Make the most of the Indian hemp seed, and sow it everywhere! † Marijuana is a natural plant, known to grow in the wild in Central and South Asia. We will write a custom essay sample on Argument for the legalization of Marijuana or any similar topic only for you Order Now Traces of people smoking Marijuana go back as far as 3,000 B. C so, what had changed over the years to make cannabis illegal? When considering the legalization of marijuana, the normal reaction would be to think about the negative factors of the drug. But what people forget is, marijuana’s positive features overrule the negatives by far. There would be many benefits if the ‘drug’ where to be legalized, especially for the government and the economy as a whole. Our government spends 500 million pounds a year on ‘overall response to drugs’, but receive no taxes from the estimated 1. 8 billion pound illegal drug market. If our government were to legalize marijuana, they could place high taxes on it because people are used to buying the drug at a high price anyway because of the risk of selling it illegally. This would be very beneficial to the government because they would have a larger increase of tax that then could be fed into the NHS and other funds, which are beneficial to the general public. This brings me neatly onto my next point, I am fully aware of the abuse potential of the drug, but its value to the medical world outweighs this potential by far. Although the argument of legalizing marijuana is extremely controversial, without knowing it, hundreds of people around you are in desperate need of its medical side, and are suffering dramatically without it. How would you feel? Marijuana would be of high value to the suffering, distressed, and disheartened cancer patients fighting for their lives. Let me try and paint you a picture: imagine there is only one medication that will relieve you from the pain you are caused by nausea, marijuana will free you of this pain and will give you a little bit of assurance and courage that you need to keep on believing that you are going to be safe. But yet, we still refuse to believe that the drug is acceptable, but there is something I must ask you all. Do you know what ‘the black market’ is? Well let me tell you, the black market is a market in goods or services in violation of legal structures defining the scope of appropriate forms of trade. It is a market for products that are illegal or stolen. Marijuana appears frequently in the market, and has become extremely popular. The problem with the drugs produced in the black market is that they are not manufactured under any safety or health regulations, this can result in unsafe drugs being produced and users experiencing problems from consuming unknown substances. If the government where to legalize marijuana they could potentially safe lives, as the drug could be bought in shops from legal proprietors, this would assure users of good quality and information about what you are buying and consuming. Jeffery Miron, the visiting professor of economics at Harvard University estimates the national marijuana market at about 10 billion pounds per year. When will the public and government realize? Marijuana is only dangerous and harmful when sold and consumed illegally, and the government is preventing and keeping us from a product that is so beneficial not only to cancer patients, but also to the paper and clothing industries, the government itself, and for the crime rate of our country. Long gone are the days when we could go outside at night and not be worried about our safety, long gone are the days when we didn’t have to worry about our kids getting involved in gang activity, and long gone are the days in which we had the freedom to consume a substance which satisfied us. I am thoroughly aware of how high the UK’s crime rate is, and how terrifying and worrying it is for the citizens of our country. I am aware that the amount of crime that goes on in our country impacts and affects almost every single person in the country, which is why legalizing marijuana would be extremely helpful. The crime rate in the Netherlands is generally low, especially compared to other European countries with tougher crime polices such as the UK. Indeed, in the UK they have found that 60% of inmates in British jails have served a jail sentence previously. In the UK where the consumption of marijuana is illegal the crime rate is actually higher than in Amsterdam where it is legal and the consumption is lower. This proves that, if our government was to legalize marijuana, it would result in the use actually decreasing, as it is known that when humans are not allowed to do something it appears much more attractive, and have a larger urge to do it. How to cite Argument for the legalization of Marijuana, Essays

Should Worldcom Ceo Bernard Ebbers Been Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison free essay sample

The WorldCom fraud that came to light in 2002 was an example of many things that went wrong within the organization. Unethical conduct by its senior leadership beginning with Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bernard Ebbers was certainly at the forefront of these problems. The question is should a CEO like Ebbers have been sentenced to prison for his liability in the WorldCom scandal? My answer is yes, he should’ve gone to prison as well as other CEOs who engage in unethical conduct that results in laws being violated. I will support my answer by aking a look at the duties of a CEO, focusing on leadership responsibilities and accountability. I will discuss causes of ethical problems in CEOs and finish by discussing utilitarian and deontological ethical issues as they pertained to Ebbers. Background As the telecommunications industry slowed in the late 1990s, WorldCom’s stock price began to decrease. Ebbers came under pressure from financial institutions to cover margin calls on WorldCom stock he used to finance other businesses (Vasatka, 2007). From 1999 to 2002, a few WorldCom senior executives engaged in fraudulent accounting practices. These practices were esigned to portray losses as growth to the public. The Board of Directors met on June 25, 2002 and decided to publish a revised financial statement for 2001 and first quarter 2002. They also decided to report this action to the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the events leading up to it (WorldCom, 2002). The SEC launched its own investigation into the matter (Vasatka, 2007) and brought civil action against a number of WorldCom executives in June 2002 (SEC, 2002). WorldCom filed for bankruptcy protection on July 21, 2002. The U. S. Justice Department rought criminal charges against Ebbers and several other WorldCom executives. For his role in the scandal, Ebbers was convicted in Federal court on March 15, 2005 and then on July 13, 2005 sentenced to 25 years in prison. The CEO as a Leader To examine the issues in this case from a normative ethics viewpoint, I believe that we should see what a CEO does in performing the leadership functions of their job as they relate to ethical issues. A good description of the CEO’s leadership role can be found in The Duties of a Chief Executive Officer (Wibowo Kleiner, 2005). The authors cite information in CEO The CEO’s leadership duties include â€Å"gives the board of directors some advice, promotes organizational and stakeholder changes related to the organisation’s goals and objectives with confidence, has intuitive, encouraging innovation, assigning and organizing all the employees to give their contribution, and supports the motivation of the employees. This challenges a CEO to be a good model for the organisation. † (Wibowo Kleiner, 2005). We’ve seen that the CEO is both a leader who is to be a good model for the organization and lso responsible for what does or doesn’t happen in an organization. There is another role a CEO has not mentioned here specially but which is implied nonetheless – accountability. Accountability is defined in the dictionary as â€Å"the quality or state of being accountable; especially: an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for ones actions lt;public officials lacking accountabilityâ €  (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, 2008). As CEO of WorldCom, Ebbers was a leader for that organization who was responsible and accountable for what did or did not happen during his tenure. Causes of Ethical Problems in CEOs The position of CEO is one that has a great deal of power. There is a quote from British historian Lord Acton (1834-1902): â€Å"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men† (Lewis, n. d. ). In the article No Fair Shake for Shareholders, the author discusses the CEO personality as possibly contributing to the ethical problems that arise with some CEOs. Traits such as a strong ego, left unchecked can turn into bad behavior. CEOs normally are good salesmen and they often sell themselves on how good they are which inflates their egos. A weak board of directors can fail to hold a CEO accountable. He stresses board responsibilities relative to CEO accountability (Wilson, 1989). In the article The Responsibility of the CEO Providing Ethical and Moral Leadership, Lewis says that there is a difference between what is legal and what is ethical. He stresses the need for a culture of ethics within an organization where all team players practice good ethics, including the CEO. He says laws only deal with part of the ethical issues faced by businesses. He cites heavy competition and pressure many employees feel to engage in unethical behavior as some of the keys to the problem. Good corporate governance, beginning with the CEO, is very important to building a good ethical culture within the organization (Lewis, 2002). Discussion of Ethical Issues Pertaining to Ebbers Ebbers had a responsibility to the employees of the company, investors, and the public to report WorldCom’s finances accurately and honestly. He was accountable to the board of directors for his actions as CEO – both good and bad. Ebbers should’ve had loyalty to these people to help them avoid the monetary losses resulting from WorldCom’s shaky financial situation. This is an example of a utilitarian ethics issue. Due to his position, he should’ve had the greater good of all these people in mind as he ran WorldCom. However, Ebbers allowed unethical practices to continue with his knowledge, with the consequence that many people lost money when WorldCom went bankrupt. Ebbers had an obligation to provide honest financial statements in order to not to violate the rights of others. He failed in this obligation, violating the rights of many people in the process. This is an example of deontological ethics. Continuing on this track, investors also have a right to know the truth about companies that they are investing in or may invest in. They also have an obligation to learn as much about the companies they are investing in or planning to invest in. Due to the fraud committed by senior executives and allowed by Ebbers, WorldCom’s public financial statements made it difficult for investors to know the truth about its financial health. Even with the fraudulent statements, some investors were able to learn of some of the irregularities in WorldCom. Shareholders filed a lawsuit against WorldCom in June 2001 alleging widespread fraudulent accounting practices. The case was subsequently thrown out by a judge in Mississippi (Weinberg, 2002). In this example of deontological ethics shareholders acted to protect their rights. Also by learning the truth about WorldCom they fulfilled their obligation to gain as much knowledge about the company as they could. In addition to Ebbers’ failings, there are others that should be mentioned in this discussion of ethics. First, WorldCom documents and testimony of employees revealed that some employees discovered problems as far back as 2000, tried to do something to correct them, and failed (Waggoner, 2002). The question is how hard did these people try to correct what they saw that was wrong? From a utilitarian ethics perspective, they had to know many people could get hurt if this continued. Secondly, regarding the shareholder lawsuit previously mentioned why didn’t the board of directors or the SEC act when these allegations were made? The board failed to hold Ebbers accountable for the accounting fraud that was being uncovered nearly two years from the time it went public in 2000. From a deontological ethics viewpoint, they had an obligation to look into these allegations so that the rights of others wouldn’t be violated. Conclusion Ebbers’ conviction and prison sentence were justified. From a utilitarian ethics perspective, he was responsible and accountable to serve the greater good of others and failed in that capacity. From a deontological viewpoint, he also had an obligation to ensure the rights of others associated with WorldCom wouldn’t be violated and he failed to meet this obligation as well. Contributing factors to the WorldCom fiasco were poor corporate governance and a corporate culture where some employees were aware of problems but failed to get corrective action taken.