Question

2. The average distance from the sun to the planet Mercury is about 58,000,000 km. The diameter of a human hair is about 0.0025 cm.
(a) What is the distance from the sun to Mercury written in scientific notation?
5.8 x 10^7
(b) What is the diameter of a human hair written in scientific notation?
2.5 x 10^-3
(c) In comparing the measurements in Parts (a) and (b), what else must be done before a comparison is made?

Answer 1

Distance of Sun and Mercury = 58,000,000 km.In Scientific notation, it would be: 5.8 × 10⁷ Km
Diameter of a human hair = 0.0025 cmIn scientific notation, it would be: 2.5 × 10⁻³ cm
Before Comparison, we need to bring cms to Kms or vice-versa, so we can easily calculate then, here, we will go from cm to Km.2.5 × 10⁻³ × 10⁻⁵ Km = 2.5 × 10⁻⁸
Now, we can compare the values, 5.8 × 10⁷ Km > 2.5 × 10⁻⁸
[ reason. - power of a smaller number is in negative, it means, it is denominator, which would be very small as compared to other ]
Hope this helps!