Question

A chemical engineer must report the average volume of a certain pollutant produced by the plants under her supervision. Here are the data she has been given by each plant:

Macon: 0.269 L
New Salem: 9.071 L
Pitt: 4.53 L

What average volume should the chemical engineer report? Be sure your answer has the correct number of significant digits.

Answer 1

The chemical engineer should report the average volume of the pollutant as 4.62 L, which is calculated by adding the volumes from each plant and dividing by the number of plants, ensuring that the final answer has the correct number of significant digits.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the average volume of a certain pollutant produced by different plants, you add up the volumes reported by each plant and divide by the number of plants. Since the question mentions significant digits, it's important to report the answer with the correct number of them. Here are the volumes given: Macon: 0.269 L, New Salem: 9.071 L, and Pitt: 4.53 L.

First, let's add them up:

• 0.269 L
• 9.071 L
• 4.53 L

Adding these we get:
0.269 + 9.071 + 4.53 = 13.87 L

Now, we divide this sum by the number of plants, which is 3:

13.87 L ÷ 3 = 4.6233333 L

However, we must report our answer with the same number of significant digits as the measurement with the fewest decimal places, which in this case is two (the figure from Pitt). Thus, the average volume is rounded to:

4.62 L

Therefore, the chemical engineer should report the average volume of the pollutant as 4.62 L.