Correct Answer: seven (7).
to determine the orders of magnitude difference between 10 milligrams and 100 kilograms, we need to first convert these quantities into the same unit. in the metric system, the prefixes indicate multiples or fractions of base units. in this case, we are dealing with grams as the base unit.
let's start by converting both quantities into milligrams:
- 1 kilogram equals 1,000 grams
- 1 gram equals 1,000 milligrams
therefore, 100 kilograms equals 100 x 1,000 x 1,000 = 100,000,000 milligrams.
now, we compare this to 10 milligrams. to find out how many times one value is of the other, we divide the larger number by the smaller number:
100,000,000 milligrams / 10 milligrams = 10,000,000.
an order of magnitude is a factor of ten. thus, a difference of one order of magnitude is equivalent to a factor of 10. to find the number of orders of magnitude difference, we calculate the base-10 logarithm of the ratio of the two numbers:
log10(10,000,000) = 7.
this calculation shows that there are seven orders of magnitude difference between 10 milligrams and 100 kilograms. this means that 100 kilograms is ten million times greater than 10 milligrams. scientists often use orders of magnitude and scientific notation to simplify and clearly express such large differences. in scientific notation, this is represented as:
- 100 kilograms = 1 x 10^5 grams
- 10 milligrams = 1 x 10^-2 grams
the absolute difference in exponents, 5 - (-2), confirms the 7 orders of magnitude difference.
therefore, the correct answer to the question of how many orders of magnitude difference exist between 10 milligrams and 100 kilograms is seven. this helps in understanding the vast difference in scale between these two quantities.
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