Question

The M virus has a diameter of 5 x 10^-7meters, while the P virus measures about 2 x 10^-8meters in diameter. A) is the M virus or P virus larger in diameter? B) how many times as larger is the larger virus than the smaller virus?

Answer 1

Answer:

(A) The M virus is larger than the P virus in diameter

(B) Diameter of virus M is 25 times the diameter of virus P

Step-by-step explanation:

Notice that the values given are in the so called "scientific notation", and which involves in this case negative exponents for the multiplier 10.

So we can write these values in decimal form for easier comparison of which one is he largest one:

Diameter of M virus = $5\,*\,10^{-7}\,m = 0.0000005\,\,m$

Diameter of P virus = $2\,*\,10^{-8}\,m = 0.00000002\,\,m$

Which clearly shows that virus M is larger than virus P in diameter

The quotient between diameters will give us the answer to how many times larger virus' M diameter is:

$\frac{M}{P} =\frac{0.0000005}{0.00000002} \\\frac{M}{P} =25$