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.(1 point)
×
ounces
CORRECT ANSWERS ONLY
To find the difference in mass between a grain of rice and a strand of hair, we need to subtract the mass of the strand of hair from the mass of the grain of rice.
The difference in mass is 0.002 - 2.17×10^-5 ounces.
To express this in scientific notation, we need to convert 0.002 to scientific notation:
0.002 = 2 × 10^-3
Therefore, the difference in mass is (2 × 10^-3) - (2.17×10^-5) ounces.
To subtract the two numbers in scientific notation, we need to have the same exponent. The exponent in the first number is -3, and the exponent in the second number is -5. To make them the same, we can convert the first number to have an exponent of -5:
2 × 10^-3 = 0.02 × 10^-5
Now we can subtract the two numbers:
(0.02 × 10^-5) - (2.17×10^-5) = -0.0153 × 10^-5
Therefore, a grain of rice is 0.0153×10^-5 ounces heavier than a strand of hair.