The weight of a honeybee is

\[1.2\cdot10^{-1}\text{ g}\]. The weight of the pollen collected by the bee on one trip is
\[6.0 \cdot 10^{-2} \text{ g}\].
What is the combined weight of the bee and the pollen?
Express your answer in scientific notation.

\[\text{ g}\]

1 answer

To find the combined weight of the honeybee and the pollen, we need to add the two weights together.

The weight of the honeybee is given by:

\[ 1.2 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g} \]

And the weight of the pollen is:

\[ 6.0 \cdot 10^{-2} \text{ g} \]

First, we can convert the weights to the same power of ten to facilitate the addition. Let’s express both weights in terms of \(10^{-1}\):

\[ 6.0 \cdot 10^{-2} \text{ g} = 0.60 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g} \]

Now we can add the two weights:

\[ 1.2 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g} + 0.60 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g} \]

We add the coefficients:

\[ 1.2 + 0.60 = 1.8 \]

Thus, the total weight is:

\[ 1.8 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g} \]

Now, we express this in proper scientific notation. As \(1.8\) has only one non-zero digit before the decimal, it is already in appropriate scientific notation.

Therefore, the combined weight of the honeybee and the pollen is:

\[ \boxed{1.8 \cdot 10^{-1} \text{ g}} \]