Final answer:
The place value of the zero in the U.S. total national debt number $18,152,809,942,589 is the ten thousands place.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student has asked about the place value of the zero in the U.S. total national debt number given as $18,152,809,942,589. The zero in question is located before the last three digits of the number. When looking at the full number, the placement of the zero indicates the ten thousands place. We can determine this by counting the places from right to left towards the zero in question, with the farthest right digit being the ones place and each place to the left increasing by a power of 10 (tens, hundreds, thousands, etc.). So, the sequence would be ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, ten thousands.