Question

Charlie is reading about animal hearts in a kids science magazine. He learns that a nestling (young) Striped Horned Owls heart weighs approximately 1.072 grams and blue whale's heart weighs 400 lbs. He is eager to share what he learned with his friends over lunch the next day and tells them that a blue whale's heart and a striped horned owl's heart are two orders of magnitude apart. Do you agree with Charlie's statement? Explain.

Answer 1

Charlie's statement is incorrect

Explanation:

Given that the owls heart weighs 1.072 grams

and the Whale's heart weighs 400lbs

let us convert from pounds to grams to have a uniform unit

400lbs = 181,437grams

Now when two readings or quantities are two orders apart it means that they differ by a factor of 100

let us solve for the difference between the two hearts

181,437grams- 1.072 grams= 181 435.928 grams

the difference is more than two orders, hence the statement is not correct