To find out how many meters a tectonic plate moves in \(2 \times 10^6\) years, we can start by converting the rate of movement from miles to meters.
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Convert miles to meters: \[ 1 \text{ mile} = 1609.34 \text{ meters} \] Thus, \[ 0.006 \text{ miles/year} = 0.006 \times 1609.34 \text{ meters/year} \]
Calculating that: \[ 0.006 \times 1609.34 \approx 9.65604 \text{ meters/year} \]
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Calculate the total movement in \(2 \times 10^6\) years: \[ \text{Total movement} = 9.65604 \text{ meters/year} \times (2 \times 10^6 \text{ years}) \] \[ \text{Total movement} \approx 9.65604 \times 2 \times 10^6 \text{ meters} \] \[ \text{Total movement} \approx 19.31208 \times 10^6 \text{ meters} \]
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Convert to scientific notation: \[ 19.31208 \times 10^6 = 1.931208 \times 10^7 \]
So, the movement of the tectonic plate in \(2 \times 10^6\) years is approximately: \[ \boxed{1.931 \times 10^7} \text{ meters} \] (rounded to three significant figures)
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