Final answer:
The minimum weight of an ant, 0.00001 kilograms, is expressed in scientific notation as 1 × 10⁻⁵ kg.
Step-by-step explanation:
The weight of an ant that is given as 0.00001 kilograms can be written using an exponent in scientific notation. Scientific notation is a way of expressing numbers that are too big or too small to be conveniently written in decimal form. In scientific notation, this number is written as 1 × 10⁻⁵ kg.
When writing in scientific notation, we use a power of 10 to determine the size of the number. For very small numbers like the ant's weight, the exponent is negative. This is because the decimal point has been moved five places to the right to convert 0.00001 into 1. In scientific notation, the '10' raised to a negative power indicates how many places the decimal point has to move to the left to get the original number.