Standard Form Physics

First, check how many decimals your number is below the unit. Let’s use the example 0.0003.

To make the number 3 appear before the decimal point, you need to move the decimal point 4 places to the right.

Then you multiply three by ten. Your exponent is -4, giving you $3\cdot {10}^{-4}$.

First, check how many decimals your number is above the unit. Let’s use the example $32476.0$.

To make the number 3 appear immediately before the decimal point, you need to move the decimal point 4 places to the left.

Then you multiply three by ten. The exponent this time is 4, giving you $3.2476\cdot {10}^4$.

Calculate the total charge in Coulombs of an alpha particle and express the result using the standard form.

An alpha particle is made of two protons and two neutrons. The only charged particles are the protons, which have a charge of $1.602176634\cdot {10}^{-19}$ C.

The total charge is the proton charge multiplied by two.

$\text{Total charge}=(1.602\cdot {10}^{-19}C)\cdot 2=3.204\cdot {10}^{-19}C$

Express the atmospheric pressure at sea level from pascals to grams per square metre using the standard form.

The accepted value for atmospheric pressure at sea level is 101325 Pa, and one pascal is equal to one newton applied over one square metre.

$101325Pa=101325N/m^2$

We also know that a newton is equal to one kilogram per metre over a square second.

$101325N/m^2=101325(kg\cdot m)/s^2{m}^2=101325kg/s^{2}m$

And we know that one kilogram is 1000 grams.

$101325kg/s^{2}m=101325000g/s^{2}m$

This quantity is very large, so we can express it using standard form.

$101325000g/s^{2}m=1.01\cdot {10}^{8}g/s^{2}m$

This is a much shorter and better way to express the pressure if you use grams.