Final answer:
The percent change in the number of students registered for the college chemistry course after 140 students dropped out is -28%, indicating a decrease of 28%.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the percent change, we need to calculate the difference between the initial number of students and the number of students who dropped out, and then divide that by the initial number of students.
The initial number of students was 500, and 140 students dropped out.
So the percent change is (140 / 500) * 100%, which is equal to 28%.