Question

A bacterium moves with a speed of 2.0 µm/s across a petri dish with radius r = 6.0 cm. How long does it take the bacterium to traverse the petri dish along its diameter? (If possible could you please explain how we determine what form some numerical values will take in scientific notation).

Answer 1

time = distance / speed

time = 2r / v

time = 2 * 0.06 / 2e-6

time = 6e4 seconds

or

time = 16.666 hours

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If possible could you please explain how we determine what form some numerical values will take in scientific notation.

scientific notation is written usually with symbol 'e'

examples

0.000789 can be written as 7.89e-4

789.568 can be written as 7.89568e2

6,000,000,000 can be written as 6e9

some common conversions are:

1 nm = 1e-9 m ( nm means nano meters)

1 um = 1e-6 m ( um means micro meters)

1 pm = 1e-12 m ( pm means pico meters)