, 7 April 2017
In everyday life, most numbers we use are less than 1000. Sometimes scientists need to use MUCH larger numbers. Here’s an insight into how they do it.
Safety: If you’re planning to use these sprinkles in cooking, use clean hands and equipment.
Count out 10 sprinkles
one teaspoon can hold about 1000 sprinkles
There are 10 000 sprinkles in the measuring cup!
What’s the biggest number you know? A billion? A trillion? You probably don’t use huge numbers very often. But some scientists need to use immense numbers regularly.
In just one gram of hydrogen gas, there are about 602 214 085 700 000 000 000 000 atoms. This number is stupendously large, and yet chemists use it all the time. It’s easy to make a mistake with all the zeros at the end. So instead of writing it all out, they split the number of digits from the digits themselves. Scientists would instead write 6.022 x 1023.
This way of writing numbers, known as scientific notation, makes calculations a lot easier. And once you’ve had some practice with it, it’s not hard to read. For example, 2.998 x 108 is a number with nine digits, and the first four digits are 2998. This number is important to physicists – it’s the speed of light (in metres per second).
In this activity, the label for each pile tells you how many tens you need to multiply together to get your number. So the 100 sprinkle pile is labelled 102, because 100 is 10 times 10. The one sprinkle pile is 100 to match the pattern – if you multiply it by 10, you get 101, which is 10.
And if you’re wondering, the 1010 pile would be about 50 000 litres, or a pile the size of a large tanker truck!
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18 November, 2021 at 6:22 pm
Wow! I have always wondered about that sort of thing. Numbers are truly spectacular, and the way people create them and use them is incredible too! I have a random, but challenging brain teaser that will mess with your mind, although at the end it will become quite obvious…
If 1=3
2=3
3=5
4=4
5=4
Then, 6=?
Good luck!
Scroll down for the answer…
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.
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ANSWER: 3
WHY? BECAUSE THE WORD SIX HAS 3 LETTERS.
I hope that this question has enhanced both the creative and logical side of your brain.