Understanding Scientific Notation and Significant Figures, Slides of Physics

Download Understanding Scientific Notation and Significant Figures and more Slides Physics in PDF only on Docsity! Numbers Docsity.com Scientific Notation  In physics numbers can be very large and very small.  Scientific notation uses powers of 10 to represent decimal places. • Positive powers for large numbers: 456000 = 4.56 x 105 • Negative powers for small numbers: 0.00753 = 7.53 x 10-3  Write a number in scientific notation with only one non-zero value to the left of the decimal place. Docsity.com Uncertainty  A student measures a length of 50.0 cm with a meterstick divided with marks at each millimeter. The uncertainty is about A) 0.5 cm B) 0.5 % C) 0.2 % D) 0.02 E) 0.1 Docsity.com Accuracy  The smallest unit on a measuring device sets the accuracy.  In general, a measurement is only as accurate as the smallest unit.  Significant figures are a guide to the accuracy of a measurement. Docsity.com Significant Figures  Any value is expressed in some number of digits.  The number of digits (without left side zeroes) is the number of significant figures.  With no decimal point, skip right side zeroes. • 38 2 digits, 2 significant figures • 5.06 3 digits, 3 significant figures • 0.0041 5 digits, 2 significant figures • 7,000. 4 digits, 4 significant figures • 2,000 4 digits, 1 significant figure Docsity.com