A strand of hair has an average mass of 2.17× 10^-5 ounces. A grain of rice has an average mass of 0.002 ounces. How much heavier is a grain of rice than a strand of hair? Express your answer in scientific notation
To find out how much heavier a grain of rice is than a strand of hair, we need to subtract the mass of the strand of hair from the mass of the grain of rice.
The mass of a strand of hair is 2.17× 10^-5 ounces.
The mass of a grain of rice is 0.002 ounces.
To perform the subtraction, we can convert the mass of the strand of hair to the same unit as the mass of the grain of rice, which is ounces.
2.17× 10^-5 ounces = 0.0000217 ounces
Now we can subtract the mass of the strand of hair from the mass of the grain of rice:
0.002 ounces - 0.0000217 ounces = 0.0019783 ounces
The difference in mass between a grain of rice and a strand of hair is 0.0019783 ounces.
To express this answer in scientific notation, we can use the conversion:
0.0019783 = 1.9783 × 10^-3
Therefore, a grain of rice is approximately 1.9783 × 10^-3 ounces heavier than a strand of hair.