Chemistry 30

1.6b A Bit about Units

The · is another way to indicate multiplication.

J/(g·°C) may also be written as

J g ×°C

or

J g ·°C

There is another way this unit is often written. In math classes you may have learned that you may use the exponent "-1" to move items from the denominator.

As an example, the fraction:

1 5

could also be written as 1 × 5-1

You wouldn't use this technique often for simple fractions like this one, but you'll often see it used to write more complex chemistry units. Be sure to get used to seeing both forms.

Thus, we can rewrite

4.184 J g ·°C

as 4.184 J g-1·C-1

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