To determine whether the Rocket Sled, with a top speed of 10,326 kilometers per hour, is faster or slower than the Autonomous Drone, I first converted the Rocket Sled's speed into scientific notation.
- To convert 10,326 into scientific notation, I can break it down as follows: I first identify the significant digits, which are 1.0326. I then determine the appropriate power of ten to represent the shift in place value. Since I moved the decimal point four places to the left to convert 10,326 into 1.0326, the exponent is 4. Therefore, the scientific notation for 10,326 is 1.0326 × 10^4.
In summary, the speed of the Rocket Sled in scientific notation is 1.0326 × 10^4 kilometers per hour.
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Now, I will compare the speed of the Rocket Sled (1.0326 × 10^4 kilometers per hour) to that of the Autonomous Drone, which is already given in scientific notation as 2.1 × 10^4 kilometers per hour. To compare these two speeds, I can look at their coefficients and exponents. Both speeds have the same exponent of 10^4, but the coefficient of the Autonomous Drone (2.1) is greater than that of the Rocket Sled (1.0326).
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Since 2.1 is greater than 1.0326, I can conclude that the Autonomous Drone is faster than the Rocket Sled. Thus, the Rocket Sled's speed is slower than that of the Autonomous Drone. This is evident from comparing their scientific notation representations.