Name: ___________________________ Date: _____________

Physics I H Mr. Tiesler

Solutions to Physics Toolkit Homework Problems 1-5

1.) The age of the universe is thought to be about 14 billion years. Assuming two significant
figures, write this in powers of ten in (a) years, (b) seconds.

(a) 14 billion years  1.4 1010 years

(b) 1.4 10 y 3.156 10 s 1 y   4.4 10

10 7 17
s

2.) Write the following numbers in powers of ten notation: (a) 1.156, (b) 21.8, (c) 0.0068,

(d) 27.635, (e) 0.219, and (f) 444.

(a) 1.156  1.156 100

(b) 21.8  2.18 101

(c) 0.0068  6.8 103

(d) 27.635  2.7635 101

(e) 0.219  2.19 101

(f) 444  4.44 102

3.) Write out the following numbers in full with the correct number of zeros: (a) 8.69 10 4 ,
(b) 9.110 3 , (c) 8.8 10 1 , (d) 4.76 10 2 , and (e) 3.62 10 5.

(a) 8.69 104  86, 900

(b) 9.1103  9,100

(c) 8.8 101  0.88

(d) 4.76 102  476

(e) 3.62 105  0.0000362

4.) Add 9.2 10 3 s 8.3 10 4 s 0.008 10 6 s.

To add values with significant figures, adjust all values to be added so that their exponents are all the
same.

9.2  103 s  8.3  104 s  0.008 106 s  9.2 103 s  83 103 s  8 103 s  9.2  83  8   103 s

 100  103 s  1.00  105 s

When adding, keep the least accurate value, and so keep to the “ones” place in the parentheses.

5.) Multiply 2.079 10 2 m by 0.082 10 1 , taking into account significant figures.

 2.079 10 m  0.082 10   1.7 m . When multiplying, the result should have as many digits as the
2 1

number with the least number of significant digits used in the calculation.