Boston University CH102 - General Chemistry Spring 2012

Logarithms Tutorial for Chemistry Students

1 Logarithms
1.1 What is a logarithm?
Logarithms are the mathematical function that is used to represent the number (y) to which a base integer (a) is
raised in order to get the number x:
x = ay ,
where y = loga (x). Most of you are familiar with the standard base-10 logarithm:

y = log10 (x),

where x = 10y . A logarithm for which the base is not specified (y = log x) is always considered to be a base-10
logarithm.

1.2 Easy Logarithms

The simplest logarithms to evaluate, which most of you will be able to determine by inspection, are those where y
is an integer value. Take the power of 10’s, for example:

log10 (10) = 1 101 = 10

log10 (100) = 2 102 = 100
log10 (1000) = 3 103 = 1000
log10 (10000) = 4 104 = 10000
log10 (1) = 0 100 = 1
log10 (0.1) = −1 10−1 = 0.1
log10 (0.01) = −2 10−2 = 0.01
log10 (0.001) = −3 10−3 = 0.001
log10 (0.0001) = −4 10−4 = 0.0001

1.3 Rules of Manipulating Logarithms

There are four main algebraic rules used to manipulate logarithms:

Rule 1: Product Rule

loga uv = loga u + loga v

Rule 2: Quotient Rule

u
loga v = loga u − loga v

Rule 3: Power Rule

loga uv = v loga u

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Boston University CH102 - General Chemistry Spring 2012

Caution! The most common errors come from students mistakenly using two completely fictitious rules (there
are no rules that even resemble these): loga (u + v) 6= loga u + loga v (logarithm of a sum) and logb (u − v) 6=
logb u − logb v (logarithm of a difference).

The practical implication of these rules, as we will see in the chapters dealing with thermodynamics, equilibrium,
and kinetics, is that we will be able to simplify complex algebraic expressions — easily.

1.4 Approximating Numerical Logarithms

In order to approximate the numerical values of non-trivial base-10 logarithms we will need (a) a good understanding
CH102 Exam 1, Monday, February 9, 2009 7
of the rules for manipulating logarithms and (b) the values of log 2 and log 3, which are 0.30 and 0.48, respectively.
Using these values and the rules we learned above, we can easily construct a table for the log values of integers
between 1 and 10:
Useful information

!H " m cs #!T $ ccal #!T, NA " 6.0 % 1023 /mol, 1 cal = 4.184 J, 1 J = 1 kg m2 ! s2 , 1 nm " 103 pm " 1 % 10&9 m, 1 mL = 1 cm3 , 1 m =
x log x Justification
1 0.00 By definition
100 cm, !E " m cs #!T, 1 cal = 4.184 J.

!E " !m c2 , !Elight " h ', h " 6.6 % 10&34 J s, e " 1.6 % 10&19 C, 1 eV " 1.6 % 10&19 J, c " 3.0 % 108 m/s, J = kg m2 ! s2 ,
2 0.30 Given

Nn " "1 ! 2#n #N0 1 Hz = 1/s, me " 9.1 % 10&31 #kg.

3 0.48 Given

p " m u " h ! (, u " ' (, KE " ))))

4 2
0.60 log 4 =
2
log 22 = 2 log 2 = 2(0.3) 2 2
p
))))) " ))))12 #m u2 , PE " & ))))))))
2#m
Ze 2#Z
)))))))) " & ))))
4#* +0 #r r
Z
))))) #7.2 % 10&10 eV m, En " & ))))
n2
Z
)) #2.2 % 10&18 J " &13.6#eV# ))))
n2
)) ,
h #n 2 2 5 0.70 log 10 = log 2 · 5 = log 2 + log 5
En " ))))))))
8#m L2
)))))) .

NA " 6.0 % 10 ! mol, me " 9.1 % 10 kg, J " kg m ! s , nm " 10 #m " 10#! " 1000#pm.
CH102 - Exam 2 6 0.78 log 6 = log 2 · 3 = log 2 + log 3 Summer I, 2009
23 &31 2 2 &9
7 0.84 Estimated as 0.5(log 6 + log 8)
The table and figure below 0.90 of log10 "x#log
8 are of values versus x. Recall
8 = log 23 = that ln"x#
3 log 2.303#log10 "x#.
2 ="3(0.3)
log 9 = log 32 = 2 log 3 = 2(0.48)
log10 "x# log10 "x#
9 0.96
x x
1 0.00 106 0.781.00 By definition
2 0.30 7 0.85
3 0.48 8 0.90
Notice that log 7 was 4 determined
0.60 9 using
0.95 the approximation that it is the half-way point between log 6 and log 8.
In general, as numbers5 0.70 10
become larger, 1.00
the distance between their logarithms becomes smaller. Consequently, this
approach Values
should work well for
of log (x) for 1 , x , 10.
large numbers. A graphical representation of this table is:
10

log 10 "x#

1
0.95
0.90
0.85
0.78

0.70

0.60

0.48

0.30

x
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Values of log10 (x) for 1 , x , 10.

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Boston University CH102 - General Chemistry Spring 2012

The same approach can be used for numbers larger than ten (or smaller than one). Let’s outline a general
approach while solving for log 0.0036
1. If the number is a decimal, express the number as a whole number times 10 to a power.

log 0.0036 = log 36 × 10−4

2. Apply the product and power rules to separate the power of ten term and evaluate it.

log 36 × 10−4 = log 36 + (−4) log 10 = log 36 − 4

3. Express the remaining number (36) as a product of prime factors.

log 36 − 4 = log (4 · 9) − 4 = log 22 32 − 4

4. Apply the product and power rules to separate all of the factors and use the table for log 1 to log 10 to evaluate
them1 .
log 22 32 − 4 = 2 log 2 + 2 log 3 − 4 = 2(0.3) + 2(0.48) − 4 = −2.44

The actual value2 of log 0.0036 is −2.4436.

Example: Approximating the value of log 2.2 × 10−5

Following the same steps as above:

log 2.2 × 10−5 log 22 × 10−6

=
= log 22 + (−6) log 10
= log (2 · 11) − 6
= log 2 + log 11 − 6
= 0.3 + 1.04∗ − 6
= −4.66 (Exact = −4.658)
∗
Here, log 11 was computed by taking the average of log 10 (= 1.00) and log 12 (= 1.08).

Exercises:

1. Approximate, numerically, the value of the following logarithms:

(a) log 0.24 (b) log 0.0027 (c) log 0.045
(d) log 810 (e) log 6.3 (f) log 14.7
(g) log 2.8 × 10−2 (h) log 1.7 × 10−5 (i) log 7.3 × 103
√
(j) log 0.252 (k) log 1.8 × 10−5 (l) log 75(1/3)

2. Use your scientific calculator to compute the precise value of the above logarithms. If there are any significant
discrepancies, try them again! This exercise can be repeated, using any random numbers, until you feel
comfortable computing logarithms by hand.

1 You may run into a prime factor that is greater than 7. If that is the case, use the same approach we used to solve log 7 to solve

the logarithm of that prime factor.

2 Computed using a Texas Instruments scientific calculator

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Boston University CH102 - General Chemistry Spring 2012

1.5 Natural Logarithms

log (x)
Natural logarithms are a specific subset of the general logarithm (x = a a ), where the base (a) is the number
e (= 2.718 . . .). The natural logarithm is formally defined by:

ln(x)
x=e ,

where ln(x) (= loge x) is the ‘natural log of x’.

To compute natural logarithms we can employ the following simple identity: ln(x) = 2.303 log(x).

Example: Approximating the value of ln 2.2 × 10−5

Following the same steps as above:

ln 2.2 × 10−5 2.303 log 2.2 × 10−5

=
= 2.303 × (−4.66)
= −10.73 (Exact = −10.72)
∗
Here, log 2.2 × 10−5 was taken from the exercise in the previous problem.

Exercises:

1. Approximate, numerically, the value of the following logarithms:

(a) ln 0.12 (b) ln 0.00625 (c) ln 0.064
(d) ln 210 (e) ln 5.5 (f) ln 12.4
−3 −7
(g) ln 3.6 × 10 (h) ln 2.5 × 10 (i) ln 8.3 × 102
√
(j) ln 0.183 (k) ln 4.9 × 10−4 (l) ln 25(1/4)

2. Use your scientific calculator to compute the precise value of the above logarithms. If there are any significant
discrepancies, try them again! This exercise can be repeated, using any random numbers, until you feel
comfortable computing logarithms by hand.

2 Antilogarithms
The antilogarithm, or power, function effectively undoes a logarithm. The best example of this in Chemistry is to
compute the hydronium ion concentration from the pH. In this case,

pH = − log[H3 O+ ],

and the hydronium ion concentration can be found from the pH using:

[H3 O+ ] = 10−pH .

2.1 Approximating Base-10 Antilogs

Consider the antilog of −2.16. The procedure for computing the power, 10−2.16 , is as follows:

1. Rewrite the power as ten to the power of the difference of two numbers: a number between 0 and 1, and an
integer.
10−2.15 = 100.85−3

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Boston University CH102 - General Chemistry Spring 2012

2. Separate the terms using the identity 10a+b = 10a 10b .

100.85−3 = 100.85 × 10−3

3. Use the definition of a base-10 logarithm (x = 10y ) to determine the value of x. The easiest way to do this is
to use the logarithm graph (or table) from section 5.4. In this case, 100.85 ≈ 7.

100.85 × 10−3 ≈ 7 × 10−3

Example: Approximating the value of 10−4.74

Following the same steps as above:

10−4.74 = 100.26−5
= 100.26 10−5
≈ 2 × 10−5 (Exact = 1.8 × 10−5 )

Here, 100.26 is approximated as 2 from the graph in section 1.4.

Exercises:

1. Approximate, numerically, the value of the following antilogs to 1 significant figure:

(a) 101.5 (b) 1012.3 (c) 104.91
(d) 10−2.28 (e) 10−5.71 (f) 10−17.44

2. Use your scientific calculator to compute the precise value of the above logarithms. If there are any significant
discrepancies, try them again! This exercise can be repeated, using any random numbers, until you feel
comfortable computing logarithms by hand.