Question

an attosecond is one quintillionth of a second. how many attoseconds are in one second? write the answer in scientific notation. be sure your answer has the correct number of significant figures.
note: reference the si prefixes table for additional information.

Explanation:

Step1: Recall the definition of attosecond

An attosecond is \(10^{-18}\) seconds, so to find how many attoseconds are in 1 second, we calculate the reciprocal of \(10^{-18}\).
\[
\frac{1}{10^{-18}} = 1\times10^{18}
\]

Step2: Confirm the scientific notation

The number \(1\times10^{18}\) is in scientific notation, and it has 1 significant figure (which is correct as per the problem's note about significant figures, and since 1 is a single significant figure here).

Answer:

\(1\times10^{18}\)