Understanding Scientific Notation and Powers of 10 in Physics, Summaries of Physics

Download Understanding Scientific Notation and Powers of 10 in Physics and more Summaries Physics in PDF only on Docsity! Physics 151 Powers of 10 & Scientific Notation In all of the physical sciences, we encounter many numbers that are so large or small that it would be exceedingly cumbersome to write them with dozens of trailing or leading zeroes. Since our number system is “base-10” (based on powers of 10), it is far more convenient to write very large and very small numbers in a special exponential notation called scientific notation. In scientific notation, a number is rewritten as a simple decimal multiplied by 10 raised to some power, n, like this: x.xxxx... × 10n Powers of Ten Remember that the powers of 10 are as follows: 100 = 1 101 = 10 10–1 = 0.1 = 110 102 = 100 10–2 = 0.01 = 1 100 103 = 1000 10–3 = 0.001 = 1 1000 104 = 10,000 10–4 = 0.0001 = 1 10,000 ...and so forth. There are some important powers that we use often: 103 = 1000 = one thousand 10–3 = 0.001 = one thousandth 106 = 1,000,000 = one million 10–6 = 0.000 001 = one millionth 109 = 1,000,000,000 = one billion 10–9 = 0.000 000 001 = one billionth 1012 = 1,000,000,000,000 = one trillion 10–12 = 0.000 000 000 001 = one trillionth In the left-hand columns above, where n is positive, note that n is simply the same as the number of zeroes in the full written-out form of the number! However, in the right-hand columns where n is negative, note that |n| is one greater than the number of place-holding zeroes. How to Write Scientific Notation To convert a regular number to scientific notation, we first rewrite it as a decimal, then multiply it by a power of 10. There is an infinite number of ways to do this for any given number, but we always prefer the one that has only a single digit in front of the decimal point. For example, we could write the number “1879” in any of the following ways: 1879 = 0.01879 × 100,000 = 0.01879 × 105 = 0.1879 × 10,000 = 0.1879 × 104 = 1.879 × 1000 = 1.879 × 103 (THIS ONE IS BEST… do you see why?) = 18.79 × 100 = 18.79 × 102 = 187.9 × 10 = 187.9 × 101 = 1879 × 1 = 1879 × 100 = 18,790 × 0.1 = 18,790 × 10–1 = 187,900 × 0.01 = 187,900 × 10–2 = 1,879,000 × 0.001 = 1,879,000 × 10–3 ...and so forth. So there is an infinite number of ways to write the number 1879 in scientific notation! However, scientists prefer “1.879 × 103” because: (1) it has only one digit before the decimal point, allowing for an accurate representation of the number of significant figures; (2) it is compact, with no extra, unnecessary zeroes that are confusing to read and cumbersome to write; (3) it conveniently tells you at a glance that the number is of the same order of magnitude as 103 (a thousand). Note: Scientists and engineers sometimes break rules (1) and (2) in order to make the power n a multiple of 3; i.e., we favor the powers 103, 106, 109, 1012, 10–3, 10–6, 10–9, etc. This has the advantage of expressing numbers as multiples of familiar quantities of ones, thousands, millions, billions, etc. For instance, we prefer to express the size of Oahu as “27.8 km” (which is 27.8 × 103 m) instead of “2.78 × 104 m,” since kilometers (1000-meter lengths) are more familiar to us than 104-meter lengths. Similarly, in financial writing you will usually see “$64.3 billion,” “£23,” and “¥700 thousand,” even though $6.43 × 1010, £2.3 × 101, and ¥7 × 105 are mathematically equivalent. A Shortcut for Converting from/to Scientific Notation… Another way of thinking about scientific notation is as follows. Take any number written in scientific notation, such as: 4.2 × 10n n (in the factor 10n) can also be seen as representing the number of places that the decimal point must be shifted to write out the original number (or conversely, the number of places that the decimal point on the original number was shifted to get to the scientific notation form). As the decimal point is shifted, we fill in the empty spaces with place-holding zeroes. For instance: 4.2 × 1023 ⇒ shift decimal point 23 places to the right ⇒ 420,000,000,000,000,000,000,000. 4.2 × 105 ⇒ shift decimal point 5 places to the right ⇒ 420,000. 4.2 × 103 ⇒ shift decimal point 3 places to the right ⇒ 4200. 4.2 × 102 ⇒ shift decimal point 2 places to the right ⇒ 420. 4.2 × 100 ⇒ shift decimal point no places to the right or left ⇒ 4.2 4.2 × 10–1 ⇒ shift decimal point 1 place to the left ⇒ 0.42 4.2 × 10–2 ⇒ shift decimal point 2 places to the left ⇒ 0.042 4.2 × 10–3 ⇒ shift decimal point 3 places to the left ⇒ 0.0042 4.2 × 10–5 ⇒ shift decimal point 5 places to the left ⇒ 0.000 042 4.2 × 10–10 ⇒ shift decimal point 10 places to the left ⇒ 0.000 000 000 42 Here are some examples with more interesting numbers… watch how far the decimal point shifts to the right or left: 6.38 × 103 km = 6380 km (radius of Earth) 6.214 × 10–1 mi = 0.6214 mi (number of miles in one kilometer) 2.1 × 10–3 kg = 0.0021 kg (mass of paper clip) 1.3 × 106 persons = 1,300,000 persons (population of Hawaii) 3 × 108 persons = 300,000,000 persons (population of the U.S.) 3.15576 × 107 s = 31,557,600 s (number of seconds in a year) 2 × 1011 stars = 200,000,000,000 stars (number of stars in our Galaxy) $3.54 × 1011 = $354,000,000,000 ($354 billion, annual U.S. deficit for fiscal year 2007) $8.51 × 1012 = $8,510,000,000,000 ($8.51 trillion, U.S. federal debt at end of fiscal year 2006) 1 × 10100 = one “googol” (a 1 followed by 100 zeroes) Multiplying/Dividing Numbers Written in Sci. Notation Perhaps the real beauty and convenience of scientific notation is the ease it provides when performing arithmetic. When multiplying or dividing numbers, their principal parts and their exponents can be operated on separately, making the calculation quick and easy. Specifically… For multiplication: multiply the principal parts, and simply add the exponents of 10. For division: divide the principal parts, and simply subtract the exponents of 10.