Solved: Express each number in scientific notation.(a) 0.000000001 s (time it takes

Problem 34P

Express each number in scientific notation.

(a) 0.000000001 s (time it takes light to travel 1 ft)

(b) 0 .143 s (time it takes light to travel around the world)

(c) 0.000000000001 s (time it takes a chemical bond to undergo one vibration)

(d) 0 .000001 m (approximate size of a dust particle)

                                                              Step by Step Solution

Step 1 of 4

(a)

Scientific notation is a very handy way of describing very large or very small numbers. This notation expresses a number with an exponent of 10 as a decimal point. The decimal place is always between 1 and 10, which means that there is always only one digit on the left before the decimal point.

Example: 0.005m can be written as

(a)

0.000000001 s

We have 8 zeroes before the first non-zero digit 1 in this case.

So we're moving the decimal point so it's after 1.

After doing so , we get   . Remember that the unit does not change during conversion.

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