Scientific Notation: Converting Measurements

How do you express the measurement 0.0000043 m correctly using scientific notation?

A) 4.3 × 10^-7 m

B) 4.3 × 10^-6 m

C) 4.3 × 10^6 m

D) 0.43 × 10^-5 m

E) 4.3 m

Answer:

The measurement 0.0000043 m written in scientific notation is 4.3 × 10^-7 m.

The measurement 0.0000043 m, expressed correctly using scientific notation, is 4.3 × 10^-7 m. This is found by moving the decimal point to the right 7 places to create a number between 1 and 10 (4.3) and then multiplying by 10 raised to the negative power of the number of places moved.

Explanation: The measurement 0.0000043 m, expressed correctly using scientific notation, is 4.3 × 10^-7 m. We convert a number into scientific notation by finding a number between 1 and 10 (here, 4.3) and multiplying it by 10 raised to the power that represents how many places the decimal point has been moved (here, 7 places to the right for a number less than 1).

In scientific notation, the format is “Coefficient × 10^Exponent”, where the coefficient is a number between 1 and 10, and the exponent represents the number of decimal places the decimal has been moved. In this case, since the original number is smaller than 1, we use a negative exponent. Answer A) 4.3 × 10^-7 m is the correct conversion to scientific notation.