Physics
Name: __________________________
Scientific Notation
Occasionally in physics we will be dealing with numbers that are very small,
like the wavelength of a light wave (0.0000005 m), and very large, like the
radius of the earth (6,380,000 m). Sometimes, numbers that are very small
or very big are written in scientific notation.
• Scientific Notation is based on powers of the base number
__________.
• The number 123,000,000,000 in scientific notation is written as:
_________________________
• The first number 1.23 is called the ___________________. It must be
greater than or equal to 1 and less than 10.
• The second number is called the ___________________. It must
always be 10 in scientific notation.
• In the number 1.23 x 1011 the number 11 is referred to as the
___________________________ or power of ten.
Examples:
1. Write the following in scientific notation.
A. 723,459,000 = _________________________
B. 1,230,000 = _________________________
C. 0.00024651 = _________________________
D. 0.00000000825 = _________________________
2. Write the following in expanded form (without scientific notation).
A. 5.76 x 104 = _________________________
B. 2.794 x 10-6 = _________________________
C. 9.3 x 108 = _________________________
D. 8.005 x 10-3 = _________________________