Logarithmic Scales (lig)
Meet Ranger Dave who leads guided tours of the Washington Monument in our Nation's Capitol.
Obviously, Ranger Dave looks pretty small when standing near the Washington Monument as indicated by the linear scale (extreme left). On this scale not even President Clinton's head would be visible (some might not agree) but when Ranger Dave and the Washington Monument are compared on a three-decade logarithmmic scale (middle), even Clinton's head is clearly visible when represented on the same scale.
The utility of logarithmic scales is relevant to many topics in this course such as acid/ base titrations, oxygen-binding properties of hemoglobin, and substrate modifications by enzymes. At some point it will be necessary to know how to read or find numbers on logarithmic scales and you may wish to review this topic now by learning how a slide rule can be used for multiplication and division based on the additivity of logarithmic functions.
Check out the web slide rule!
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© Duane W. Sears
Revised: August 10, 1998
Click here to open the Critical Concepts in Logarithmic Algebra web page.