Question

While in orbit, a space shuttle travels at a speed of 28,200 kilometers per hour. What is the total number of kilometers traveled in one day? Write your answer in scientific notation (I am not demanding this, it is a problem my teacher put on a worksheet).

Answer 1

Answer:

The distance is 676,800 kilometers, which in scientific notation has a value of 6.748*10⁵ kilometers.

Step-by-step explanation:

A space shuttle travels at a speed of 28,200 kilometers per hour. Given that in 1 day there are 24 hours, it is possible to apply the following rule of three: if in 1 hour the space shuttle travels 28,200 kilometers, in 24 hours how much distance will the space shuttle travel?

$distance=\frac{24 hours*28,200 kilometers}{1 hour}$

distance= 676,800 kilometers

Scientific notation is a quick way to represent a number using powers of base ten. This notation is used to be able to express very large or very small numbers very easily.

The numbers are written as a product:

a*10ⁿ

where:

• a is a real number greater than or equal to 1 and less than 10, to which a decimal point is added after the first digit if it is a non-integer number.
• n is a whole number, which is called an exponent or an order of magnitude. Represents the number of times the comma is shifted. It is always a whole number, positive if it is shifted to the left, negative if it is shifted to the right.

To write the number 676,800 in scientific notation, perform the following steps:

The decimal point is moved to the left as many spaces until it reaches the right of the first digit.  This number is then written, which will be the coefficient a in the expression of the previous product.  In this case a=6.76800= 6.748

The base 10 is written with the exponent equal to the number of spaces that the comma moves. This is a positive number because the comma is shifted to the left. In this case n= 5

Then, the distance is 676,800 kilometers, which in scientific notation has a value of 6.748*10⁵ kilometers.