Scientific Notation Introduction Activity
Go to the Power of Ten website using the Firefox web browser (click Control and the link
below and the website will take you there):
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/powersof10/
Click the manual button to stop the automatic display. Use the increase and decrease
arrows to find the sizes below. Fill in the chart below for the following views:
[you will have to ‘wrap’ the zeros for the larger numbers]
View
Exponent(m) Standard (km) Sci. notation (m) Sci. notation(km)
Example:
Southwestern USA 10+6 m
1000km
1.0 x 106 m
1.0 x 103 km
Western
Hemisphere of the
Earth
Earth and orbit of
the moon
10+7m
10,000km
1.00 x 107m
1.00 x 104km
10+9m
1 million km
1000000 x 109m
1.00 x 106km
Our solar system
10+13m
10 billion km
10000000000 x
1013m
1.00 x 1010km
10+16m
Don’t bother to 1.0 x 10+16m
write in
standard
1.0 x 10+13km
10+21m
Write the
100000 x 1021m
number of light
years
1.00 x 1018km
One light year
Our Galaxy, The
milky way
100,000
[note: conversion from m to km is three decimal places to the left
1000m = 1.0 km [standard] so 103m = 100km [exponent]
and 1.0 x 103m = 1.0 x 100 km [scientific notation]
always remember that 100 is equal to 1]
[go to page 2]
In scientific notation [NOT the exponential notation on the website] write the following:
1) The number of meters it takes light to travel in ONE year:
1.0 x 10+16m
2) Approximately, how many kilometers light can travel in one year:
1.0 x 10+13km
3) The width of the earth [do not use the exponential notation on the website]
Earth = 12.76 x 10+6 = 12,760,000 meters wide
(12.76 million meters)
4) The distance –in light years- from which you can see the local group of galaxies,
including ours, the Milky way
1021m 100 000 light years
5) The number of meters light can travel in 10 million years.
1.0 x 1023
6) The number of kilometers light can travel in 10 million years.
1.0 x 100000000000000000000000km
7) A light year is exactly 9.46 million million kilometers.
9.46 x 10km
8) A light year is exactly how many meters?
10+16m
9) The closest star to Earth is Proxima Centauri at about 4.3 light years away. How
many kilometers away is this star?
150 million km