1. Regents Physics Scientific Notation PowerPoint Lecture Notes

2. Scientific Notation n Why do we use it? Very Small things... BIG THINGS

3. Scientific Notation n What can the number 10 do? It can be used as a multiplier or a divider to make a number LARGER or smaller Example: 1.0 x 10 = 10 x 10 = 100 x 10 = 1000 AND Example: 1.0 / 10 = 0.10 / 10 = 0.010 / 10 = 0.0010

4. Scientific Notation n Scientific notation uses this principle… –but…uses a shorthand form to move the decimal point The “shorthand” form is called THE POWERS OF 10

5. The Powers of 10 n 1.0 x 10 x 10 = 100…right?! n 1.0 is multiplied twice by ten… –therefore 10 x 10 = 10 2 This is called an exponent and is written EE on your calculator!

6. The Powers of 10 n Overall.. 1.0 x 100 = 1.0 x 10 2 = 1000 n We can also look at it a different way.. 1000 has three zeros after the digit 1..so.. it takes three moves to the right to get to the end of the number!

7. The Powers of 10 1 0 0 0 3 moves to the right gives a positive exponent 1.0 x 10 3 = 1000 also!

8. Moves to the right make a number larger... n But what about moves to the left? 1.0 The number gets smaller!

9. Moves to the left n 0.01 = 2 moves from 1.0 to the left n therefore.. 1.0 x 10 -2 The negatives sign means move decimal to the left!

10. The Powers of 10 Summary n Moves to the right are positive and make a number larger! n Moves to the left are negative and make a number smaller! The number with the decimal > 9.99..etc and cannot be smaller than 1.0

11. Practice Problems n Convert to Scientific Notation 10000 50000 565,000 0.0036 0.00000887 1.0 x 10 4 5.0 x 10 4 5.65 x 10 5 3.6 x 10 -3 8.87 x 10 -6

12. n Convert to regular numbers 2.3 x 10 5 5.3 x 10 3 6.75 x 10 -4 3.19 x 10 -9 Practice Problems 230,000 5300 0.000675 0.00000000319