An asteroid is heading towards Mars at the rate of 7.7 * 10/4 mph if the asteroid is 3.311 * 10.8 Mi away from Mars how many hours will it be before it hits Mars right to answer in scientific notation Express to the exact decimal place

1 answer

To find out how many hours it will be before the asteroid hits Mars, we need to divide the distance by the rate.

Distance = 3.311 * 10^8 mi
Rate = 7.7 * 10^4 mph

Time = Distance / Rate

Time = (3.311 * 10^8 mi) / (7.7 * 10^4 mph)

To divide the numbers, we subtract the exponents in the denominator from the exponents in the numerator, and divide the coefficients.

Time = (3.311 / 7.7) * 10^(8 - 4) mi / mph

Time = 0.4293 * 10^4 mi / mph

We express 0.4293 in scientific notation by moving the decimal point to the right until there is only one non-zero digit to the left of the decimal point.

Time = 4.293 * 10^(-1 + 4) mi / mph

Time = 4.293 * 10^3 mi / mph

Therefore, it will take approximately 4.293 * 10^3 hours for the asteroid to hit Mars.