Question

The length of a 1-inch paperclip is about 1.6 x 10−5 miles. It takes about 1.5 x 1010 paperclips linked together to reach the moon. What is the approximate distance to the moon?

Answer 1

Distance from the moon is 2.4 × 10⁵ miles

Explanation:

Length of 1-inch paperclip =
`1.6* 10^(-5)` miles

Number of paperclips used to reach the moon = 1.5 × 10¹⁰

Total distance from the moon = Number of paper clips used × Length of one clip

= (1.5 × 10¹⁰) × (1.6 × 10⁻5)

= (1.5 × 1.6) (10¹⁰× 10⁻⁵)

= 2.4 × 10⁽¹⁰⁻⁵⁾ miles

= 2.4 × 10⁵ miles

Distance from the moon is 2.4 × 10⁵ miles.