The diameter of a neutral neon atom is about 1.4 ✕ 10^2 pm. Suppose that we could line up neon atoms side by side in contact with one another. Approximately how many neon atoms would it take to make the distance from end to end 1 cm?
I did 1.4 x 10^2 pm x (1 m/10^9 pm) x (100 cm/1 m) = 1.4 x 10^-05 but this answer is not correct
What you did, and you needed to that, is convert 1.4E2 pm to cm.
Then (1.4E-5 cm/atom) x # atoms = 1 cm.
Solve for # atoms in the 1 cm.
To find the number of neon atoms required to form a distance of 1 cm, we need to calculate the total number of atoms we can fit in that distance.
First, let's convert the diameter of a neon atom from picometers (pm) to centimeters (cm):
1.4 × 10^2 pm = 1.4 × 10^2 × (1 cm/10^10 pm) = 1.4 × 10^2 × 10^-10 cm
= 1.4 × 10^-8 cm
Next, divide the total distance (1 cm) by the diameter of a single neon atom to determine how many atoms can fit within that distance:
Number of neon atoms = (Total distance) / (Diameter of a single neon atom)
Number of neon atoms = 1 cm / (1.4 × 10^-8 cm)
Performing the calculation:
Number of neon atoms = 1 / (1.4 × 10^-8)
= 7.14 × 10^7
Therefore, it would take approximately 7.14 × 10^7 neon atoms to make the distance from end to end 1 cm.