sam is comparing the half life of two isotopes of uranium. The half life of uranium-238 is 4.5 x 10^9 years the half of uranium-233 is 1.6 x 10^5 years he computed how much greater the half life of uranium-238 is then that of uranium-233, and his calculator displayed the number 2.81E4 what is this number in scientific notation?
A. 2.81 x 10^-4
B. 2.81 x 10^4
C. 2.81 + 10^4
D. 4 x 10^2.81
The given number, 2.81E4, is already in scientific notation.
Therefore, the answer is: B. 2.81 x 10^4
To convert the number 2.81E4 to scientific notation, we need to move the decimal point 4 places to the right to make it a whole number, which gives us 28,100.
Since we moved the decimal point to the right, we have a positive exponent. Therefore, the scientific notation for the number 2.81E4 is B. 2.81 x 10^4.
To determine the number 2.81E4 in scientific notation, we need to rewrite it in the form of a number multiplied by a power of 10.
The exponent of the power of 10 is the value after the 'E' in the number 2.81E4, which is 4. Therefore, the power of 10 is positive 4.
The number before the 'E' is 2.81, so the answer is 2.81 multiplied by 10 raised to the power of 4.
In scientific notation, this can be written as:
B. 2.81 x 10^4