The size of a hydrogen atom is about 1.2×10−^10 m across. The size of an oxygen atom is 0.000000000152 m across. What is the difference between the sizes of these atoms in scientific notation?

Answer 1

To find the difference between the sizes of these atoms, we need to subtract the size of the hydrogen atom from the size of the oxygen atom.

Size of hydrogen atom = 1.2 × 10^(-10) m
Size of oxygen atom = 0.000000000152 m

To convert the size of the oxygen atom to scientific notation, we move the decimal point to the right until there is one non-zero digit to the left:

Size of oxygen atom = 1.52 × 10^(-10) m

Now we can subtract the size of the hydrogen atom from the size of the oxygen atom:

Difference = Size of oxygen atom - Size of hydrogen atom
Difference = (1.52 - 1.2) × 10^(-10) m

Simplifying the subtraction and keeping the result in scientific notation:

Difference = 0.32 × 10^(-10) m

Since the exponent is already negative, we don't need to perform any further calculations.

The difference between the sizes of these atoms in scientific notation is 0.32 × 10^(-10) m.