Question

The diameter of a bacterium called spiral is 0.000015 meter. What is this in scientific notation?

Answer 1

I believe it would be 10 x 1.5^-5

Answer 2

The diameter of a spiral in scientific notation is given by:

`1.5* 10^(-5)\ \text{meter}`

Explanation:

The scientific notation of a number is written such that:

There is a single non-zero digit before the decimal and the power of 10 is the number of places it is shifted.

If the decimal is shifted to the right then the power of 10 is negative.

and if the decimal is shifted to the left then the power of 10 is positive.

Here we have a number as:

`0.000015\ \text{meter}`

Now, the scientific notation of this number is such that we need to shift the decimal 5 places to the right.

Hence, the number is:

`1.5* 10^(-5)\ \text{meter}`