Question

the mass of saturn is approximately 5.68×10^{26} kg, and the mass of venus is approximately 4.87×10^{24} kg. how much heavier is saturn than venus?

a. 1.0513×10^{25} kg

b. 5.6313×10^{26} kg

c. 8.1013×10^{25} kg

d. 5.7313×10^{26} kg

Explanation:

Step1: Rewrite the mass of Venus

We rewrite the mass of Venus $4.87\times 10^{24}$ kg as $0.487\times 10^{25}$ kg. This is done by moving the decimal - point one place to the left and increasing the exponent of 10 by 1.

Step2: Subtract the mass of Venus from the mass of Saturn

Subtract the mass of Venus $0.487\times 10^{25}$ kg from the mass of Saturn $5.68\times 10^{25}$ kg. We use the rule of subtracting numbers in scientific notation: $(a\times 10^{n})-(b\times 10^{n})=(a - b)\times 10^{n}$. So, $(5.68 - 0.487)\times 10^{25}=5.193\times 10^{25}$ kg. It seems there is a mistake in the above - step. Let's rewrite the mass of Venus as $0.0487\times 10^{26}$ kg.

Step3: Subtract the mass of Venus from the mass of Saturn (corrected)

Now subtract the mass of Venus $0.0487\times 10^{26}$ kg from the mass of Saturn $5.68\times 10^{26}$ kg. Using the rule $(a\times 10^{n})-(b\times 10^{n})=(a - b)\times 10^{n}$, we have $(5.68-0.0487)\times 10^{26}=5.6313\times 10^{26}$ kg.

Answer:

B. $5.6313\times 10^{26}$ kg