Name: __________________________
Scientific Notation Application Word Problems
In answering the questions below, be sure to show your work using scientific notation. Your
answers should be in scientific notation. After answering all the questions, convert all your
answers to standard notation as well.
1. The speed of light travels 6.71 x 108 miles per hour. How many miles would light travel
in one minute? Hint: convert 60 minutes to scientific notation.
a. If it takes light 8.3 minutes to reach the Sun from the Earth, what is the distance
of the sun from the Earth?
2. The SR-71 “Blackbird” is one of the fastest airplanes. It is capable of traveling at a
cruising speed of Mach 3, or three times the speed of sound. The speed of sound is
approximately 7.6 x 102 miles per hour. What is mach 3 in miles per hour?
3. The half life of uranium-238 is 4.5 x 109 years. The half life of uranium-234 is 2.5 x 105
years. How many times greater is the half life of uranium-238 than that of uranium-234?
4. The state of Colorado covers about 104,000 square miles. The Indian Ocean covers
about 2.808 x 107 square miles. How many times bigger than Colorado is the Indian
Ocean?
5. Through research, scientists have found that a body of a 200lb person consists of
3.2 x 105lbs of zinc. In the bodies of 1,500 such people, how much zinc is present?
6. A dust particle has a mass of 7.53 x 10-10g. How much would 6,000,000,000 dust
particles weigh?
7. A typical bedroom is 1,200m3. We know that there are 3.4 x 109 particles of dust per
cubic meter. How many dust particles are is the typical bedroom?
8. In Australia, the people usually consume 2,240,000,000 pounds of bread each year.
There are 2.3 x 107 people living in Australia. How many pounds of bread does a typical
Australian eat during the year?
9. China currently has 1,361,000,000 residents. The USA currently has 3.17 x 108. How
many more people live in China?
a. Using the populations of China and the USA from above, how many times larger
is China’s population in comparison to the USA?
10. Tina currently works on the assembly line and produces 3.7 x 106 crayons every year.
Her manager wants to increase her productivity to 52,890,000 crayons. How many more
crayons will Tina have to produce to meet this new requirement?
11. The Apple Company is currently worth $1.043 x 1011. Its closest competitor, Microsoft, is
worth $56,700,000,000. What is the total value of these two companies?
a. How much more money is Apple worth than Microsoft?
b. How many times greater Apple’s worth than Microsoft is’s worth?