Question

29 If we round to 1 significant figure, sound travels at a speed of approximately 0.3 kilometers per second, while light travels at a speed of approximately 300 000 kilometers per second. 29a Express the speed of sound in kilometers per second in scientific notation.

Answer 1

3 x 10^-1 km per second.

Explanation:

A scientific notation includes c x 10^n. c is a number between 1-9, and n is the nth power of 10.

If we move the decimal in 0.3 to the right by 1 place, we can get "c", which will be 3. Since we have moved the decimal to the right, each place moved right counts as -1 for n.

So, the answer is 3 x 10^-1 km per second.