To find the difference between the sizes of a hydrogen atom and an oxygen atom, we first need to express both measurements in a similar format and then perform the subtraction.
The size of a hydrogen atom is given as:
\[ 1.2 \times 10^{-10} , \text{m} \]
The size of an oxygen atom is given as:
\[ 0.000000000152 , \text{m} = 1.52 \times 10^{-10} , \text{m} \]
Now, we can find the difference between the two atom sizes:
\[ \text{Size of hydrogen atom} - \text{Size of oxygen atom} = (1.2 \times 10^{-10}) - (1.52 \times 10^{-10}) \]
To perform the subtraction:
\[ 1.2 - 1.52 = -0.32 \]
Now, expressing \(-0.32\) in scientific notation gives:
\[ -3.2 \times 10^{-1} \]
However, to keep our answer in the format comparable to the atom sizes, we must account for the exponent:
\[ -0.32 \times 10^{-10} = -3.2 \times 10^{-11} \]
Since we only need the positive difference, we can take the result in absolute value:
\[ 3.2 \times 10^{-11} , \text{m} \]
So, the answer is:
3.2 × 10⁻¹¹ m