Suppose that an environmental study determines that a town produces approximately 2,000 lb of trash each day. The study group decides to convert their findings to SI units, using the conversion 1 lb = 0.4536 kg. They report that the town produces 907.2 kg of trash each day. Which of the following is correct?
1)The study group used the wrong conversion factor. They should have reported that the town produces 4,409 kg of trash each day.
2)The study group used the correct conversion, but they should have reported that the town produces 907 kg of trash each day.
3)The study group used the correct conversion factor but did not account for significant digits.
4) None of these statements are correct.
I got the answer to be (3) because isn't the answer supposed to be rounded to the nearest whole number?
answer 3 is the best answer.
You are correct in thinking that the answer should be rounded to the nearest whole number. However, the answer is not necessarily option (3). Let's go through each of the options to determine the correct statement:
1) The study group used the wrong conversion factor. They should have reported that the town produces 4,409 kg of trash each day.
This is incorrect because the correct conversion factor is 1 lb = 0.4536 kg. Therefore, the study group did use the correct conversion factor.
2) The study group used the correct conversion, but they should have reported that the town produces 907 kg of trash each day.
This is also incorrect because 907.2 kg is the correct conversion when rounded to the nearest tenth of a kilogram.
3) The study group used the correct conversion factor but did not account for significant digits.
This statement is also incorrect because the significant digits in the given measurement are only up to one decimal place, not up to an entire kilogram.
4) None of these statements are correct.
This is the correct option because neither option (1), (2), nor (3) accurately represents the conversion and reporting done by the study group.
Therefore, the correct answer is option (4), none of these statements are correct.