Final answer:
The number 52,030.2 m in scientific notation is 5.20302 × 10⁴ m, which is option 1 from the list provided.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question concerns converting a standard numeral into scientific notation. For the number 52,030.2 m, the correct scientific notation would involve moving the decimal point four places to the left to ensure that there is only one non-zero digit to the left of the decimal. This would transform the number into 5.20302 followed by the exponent indicating the number of places the decimal was moved. Therefore, 52,030.2 m expressed in scientific notation is 5.20302 × 10⁴ m, which corresponds to option 1 in the student's list.