An average American household uses about 1.04×104 kWh (kilowatt hours) of electricity a year. If a power station generates 2.496×1010 kWh per year, how many households can it serve? Write your answer in scientific notation, expressed to the exact decimal place.
To find the number of households that can be served by the power station, we need to divide the total electricity generated by the power station by the electricity used by an average household.
2.496×10^10 kWh / 1.04×10^4 kWh = 2.4×10^6 households
Therefore, the power station can serve 2.4×10^6 households.
To find the number of households that a power station can serve, we need to divide the total electricity generated by the power station by the amount used by an average American household.
First, let's convert the given values to scientific notation:
Total electricity generated by the power station = 2.496 * 10^10 kWh
Electricity used by an average American household = 1.04 * 10^4 kWh
To divide the two values in scientific notation, we subtract the exponent of the denominator from the exponent of the numerator and divide the coefficients:
(2.496 * 10^10 kWh) / (1.04 * 10^4 kWh)
Applying the division rule, the quotient is:
(2.496 / 1.04) * 10^(10-4) kWh
Simplifying the quotient gives:
2.4 * 10^(10-4) kWh
To subtract the exponents, we get:
2.4 * 10^6 kWh
Therefore, the power station can serve 2.4 × 10^6 households.
To determine how many households a power station can serve, we can use the given information of the annual electricity usage per household and the total electricity generated by the power station.
Given:
- Average electricity usage per household: 1.04 × 10^4 kWh
- Total electricity generated by the power station: 2.496 × 10^10 kWh
We can calculate the number of households served by dividing the total electricity generated by the electricity used per household:
Number of households = Total electricity generated / Electricity used per household
Number of households = (2.496 × 10^10 kWh) / (1.04 × 10^4 kWh)
To divide the numbers in scientific notation, subtract the exponents: (2.496 / 1.04) × (10^10 / 10^4)
Simplify the division: 2.4 × 10^(10 - 4) = 2.4 × 10^6
Therefore, the power station can serve approximately 2.4 × 10^6 households (expressed in scientific notation).