Mercury is 5.8×10

Question

7
km from the sun. Neptune is 4.5×10
10
km from the sun.
How much further is Neptune from the sun than Mercury? (1 point)

Multiply the distances:
(5.8×10
7
)⋅(4.5×10
10
)=(5.8×4.5)⋅(10
7
+10
10
)=26.1×10
17
=2.61×10
18
km

Add the distances together:
(5.8×10
7
)+(4.5×10
10
)=10.3×10
17
=1.03×10
18
km

Subtract the distances by getting the same power of 10:
(4.5×10
10
)−(5.8×10
7
)=(4.5×10
10
)−(0.0058×10
10
)=4.49×10
10
km

Divide the distances:
5.8×10
7

4.5×10
10

​
=0.78×10
3
=7.8×10
2
km

Answer 1

To find out how much further Neptune is from the Sun compared to Mercury, we need to subtract the distance of Mercury from the distance of Neptune.

Given:

• Distance of Mercury from the Sun: $5.8\times {10}^7$ km
• Distance of Neptune from the Sun: $4.5\times {10}^{10}$ km

First, we express both distances with the same power of 10 for easier subtraction. We can convert $5.8\times {10}^7$ to the same exponent as $4.5\times {10}^{10}$:

$$5.8\times {10}^7=0.0058\times {10}^{10}$$

Now we can subtract the distances:

$$(4.5\times {10}^{10})-(0.0058\times {10}^{10})=(4.5-0.0058)\times {10}^{10}=4.4942\times {10}^{10}\text{ km}$$

Thus, $4.4942\times {10}^{10}$ km or approximately $4.49\times {10}^{10}$ km is how much further Neptune is from the Sun than Mercury.