Question

The weight of a honeybee is
\[1.2\cdot10^{-1}\text{ g}\]. The weight of the pollen collected by the bee on one trip is
\[6.0 \cdot 10^{-2} \text{ g}\].
What is the combined weight of the bee and the pollen?
Express your answer in scientific notation.

\[\text{ g}\]

Answer 1

To find the combined weight of the honeybee and the pollen, we need to add the two weights together.

The weight of the honeybee is given by:

\[
1.2 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g}
\]

And the weight of the pollen is:

\[
6.0 \cdot 10^{-2} \text{ g}
\]

First, we can convert the weights to the same power of ten to facilitate the addition. Let’s express both weights in terms of \(10^{-1}\):

\[
6.0 \cdot 10^{-2} \text{ g} = 0.60 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g}
\]

Now we can add the two weights:

\[
1.2 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g} + 0.60 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g}
\]

We add the coefficients:

\[
1.2 + 0.60 = 1.8
\]

Thus, the total weight is:

\[
1.8 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g}
\]

Now, we express this in proper scientific notation. As \(1.8\) has only one non-zero digit before the decimal, it is already in appropriate scientific notation.

Therefore, the combined weight of the honeybee and the pollen is:

\[
\boxed{1.8 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g}}
\]