Question

Tectonic plates are large segments of Earth’s crust that move slowly. Suppose one such plate has an average speed of 4.0 cm/yr. (a) What distance does it move in 1.0 s at this speed? (b) What is its speed in kilometers per million years?

(a) (1.3 × 10⁻⁴) m
a) (1.3 × 10⁻⁴) m
b) (3.2 × 10²) m
c) (1.3 × 10⁶) m
d) (4.0 × 10⁻⁸) m

(b) (3.2 × 10²) m
a) (1.3 × 10⁻⁴) m
b) (3.2 × 10²) m
c) (1.3 × 10⁶) m
d) (4.0 × 10⁻⁸) m

Answer 1

A tectonic plate moving at 4.0 cm/year travels a distance of 1.27 × 10^-11 meters in one second. Its speed is equivalent to 4.0 × 10^1 kilometers per million years. These values help in understanding the slow movement of tectonic plates.

Step-by-step explanation:

Tectonic plates are significant geological structures that makeup Earth's crust, moving at very slow speeds. Converting these movements into more understandable terms involves mathematical calculations.

Answering the student's questions:

1. The distance a tectonic plate moves in one second when traveling at 4.0 cm/year:
2. Firstly, we need to convert the speed from cm/year to cm/second:
3. 4.0 cm/yr × (1 yr / 31,536,000 s) = 1.27 × 10-9 cm/s
4. Since the student is looking for an answer in meters, we convert cm to meters:
5. 1.27 × 10-9 cm/s × (1 m / 100 cm) = 1.27 × 10-11 m/s
6. The tectonic plate's speed in kilometers per million years:
7. Firstly, converting cm/year to km/million years:
8. 4.0 cm/yr × (1 km / 105 cm) × (106 years / 1 million years) = 4.0 × 101 km/million years.