2.1: Qualitative vs Quantitative Observations

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Page ID: 538616

Seth Yates
Fresno City College

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Learning Objectives

To understand the difference between qualitative and quantitative observations.

Qualitative observations describe properties or occurrences in ways that do not rely on numbers. Examples of qualitative observations include the following: the outside air temperature is cooler during the winter season, table salt is a crystalline solid, sulfur crystals are yellow, and dissolving a penny in dilute nitric acid forms a blue solution and a brown gas.

Quantitative observations are measurements, which by definition consist of both a number and a unit. Examples of quantitative observations include the following: the melting point of crystalline sulfur is 115.21 °C, and 35.9 grams of table salt dissolve in 100 grams of water at 20 °C.

Example \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Quantitative Observation: There are 31 people in this room.

Qualitative Observation: There are people in this room with brown hair, black hair, red hair, and blonde hair.

Exercise \(\PageIndex{1}\)

Classify each statement as a qualitative observation, or a quantitative observation.

Your instructor weighs 197 lbs.
Your instructor has dark brown hair.
Limestone is relatively insoluble in water but dissolves readily in dilute acid with the evolution of a gas.
Gas mixtures that contain more than 4% hydrogen in air are potentially explosive.

Answer a: quantitative observation
Answer b: qualitative observation
Answer c: qualitative observation
Answer d: quantitative observation

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