To determine whether the Rocket Sled's top speed of 18,306 kilometers per hour is faster or slower than the Autonomous Drone, I first needed to convert the speed of the Rocket Sled into scientific notation. Here are the steps I took:
- I started with the number 18,306. To convert this into scientific notation, I need to express it in the form \( a \times 10^n \), where \( 1 \leq a < 10 \) and \( n \) is an integer.
- I shifted the decimal point in 18,306 to the left until I got a number between 1 and 10. I moved the decimal point 4 places to the left, changing 18,306 into 1.8306.
- Since I moved the decimal point 4 places to the left, I have to denote that movement with a power of 10. Therefore, I write this as \( 1.8306 \times 10^4 \).
- As a result, the scientific notation for the Rocket Sled's speed is \( 1.8306 \times 10^4 \) kilometers per hour.
Next, I need to compare this speed to that of an Autonomous Drone. For instance, if we say that the Autonomous Drone has a top speed of 100 kilometers per hour. In scientific notation, 100 is expressed as \( 1.0 \times 10^2 \).
When I compare \( 1.8306 \times 10^4 \) (Rocket Sled) to \( 1.0 \times 10^2 \) (Autonomous Drone), I observe that the power of 10 for the Rocket Sled (\( 10^4 \)) is much larger than that of the Autonomous Drone (\( 10^2 \)). This means that \( 1.8306 \times 10^4 \) is significantly larger than \( 1.0 \times 10^2 \).
Thus, I conclude that the Rocket Sled is significantly faster than the Autonomous Drone.