Devon checked a web site that gave daily updates on distances from Earth. He found that Pluto was 31.514 astronomical unit (AU) from Earth. One AU = 149,600,000 kilometers. How many kilometers is Pluto from Earth expressed in scientific notation? Round the mantissa to the nearest thousandth.
3.1514 * 10^1 * 1.496 * 10^8
= ( 3.1514 * 1.496 ) *10^9
Earth to Pluto ... 3.1514 x 10 AU * 1.496 x 10^8 km/AU = ? km
To find the distance from Earth to Pluto in kilometers, we need to multiply the distance in astronomical units (AU) by the conversion factor: 1 AU = 149,600,000 kilometers.
Let's calculate it step by step:
Distance from Earth to Pluto in kilometers = 31.514 AU * 149,600,000 kilometers per AU.
Using a calculator, the result is 4,711,118,400 kilometers (rounded to the nearest kilometer).
Now, let's express this distance in scientific notation:
4,711,118,400 in scientific notation is 4.7111184 × 10^9 (rounded to the nearest thousandth).
Therefore, Pluto is approximately 4.711 × 10^9 kilometers away from Earth.