Question

Convert 50 years into seconds, expressing your answer in scientific notation.

a. 1.6×10⁹
b. 5×10⁷
c. 2×10¹⁰
d. 7.2×10⁸

Answer 1

To convert 50 years into seconds in scientific notation, multiply the number of seconds in a year by 50 and express the result in scientific notation, which yields 1.6×109 seconds.

Step-by-step explanation:

To convert 50 years into seconds in scientific notation, follow these steps:

1. Calculate the total number of seconds in one year by multiplying the number of seconds in a minute (60), by the number of minutes in an hour (60), by the number of hours in a day (24), by the number of days in a year (approximately 365.25 to account for leap years). This calculation yields 31,556,952 seconds in a year.
2. Multiply the number of seconds in a year by 50 to find the total seconds in 50 years.
3. Express this number in scientific notation.

The calculation would look like this: 60 * 60 * 24 * 365.25 * 50, which equals 1,576,800,000 seconds. This number is then written in scientific notation as 1.6×109.

Therefore, the correct option is a. 1.6×109.