To find out how many hours it will take for the asteroid to hit Mercury, we can use the formula:
\[ \text{Time} = \frac{\text{Distance}}{\text{Speed}} \]
Given:
- Distance = \( 6.622 \times 10^8 \) miles
- Speed = \( 15.4 \times 10^4 \) miles per hour
Now, we can plug in the values:
\[ \text{Time} = \frac{6.622 \times 10^8}{15.4 \times 10^4} \]
To perform this division, we can separate the coefficients and the powers of ten:
\[ \text{Time} = \frac{6.622}{15.4} \times \frac{10^8}{10^4} \]
Calculating the powers of ten:
\[ \frac{10^8}{10^4} = 10^{8-4} = 10^4 \]
Now we need to calculate the coefficient:
\[ \frac{6.622}{15.4} \approx 0.430 \]
So we can now combine these results:
\[ \text{Time} \approx 0.430 \times 10^4 \]
Next, we convert \( 0.430 \times 10^4 \) into proper scientific notation:
\[ 0.430 \times 10^4 = 4.30 \times 10^3 \]
Thus, the time before the asteroid hits Mercury, in scientific notation and expressed to the exact decimal place, is:
\[ \boxed{4.30 \times 10^3} \text{ hours} \]
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