Question #6cdf0

1 Answer
Jul 14, 2016

Here's how you can do that.

Explanation:

Dimensional analysis is all about using conversion factors to go from one unit to another.

In this case, to get from days to seconds you have to use conversion factors that take you from

  • days #-># hours
  • hours #-># minutes
  • minutes #-># seconds

Now, these are all fairly common conversion factors, so I won't go into any detail about them. Starting with #2.5# days, you can say that you have

#2.5 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("days"))) * overbrace((24color(red)(cancel(color(black)("hours"))))/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("day")))))^(color(blue)("days to hours")) * overbrace((60 color(red)(cancel(color(black)("minutes"))))/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("hour")))))^(color(purple)("hours to minutes")) * overbrace("60 seconds"/(1color(red)(cancel(color(black)("minute")))))^(color(darkgreen)("minutes to seconds")) = "216,000 seconds"#

Seeing how you only have two sig figs for the number of days given to you, the answer should be rounded off to

#"2.5 days " = color(green)(|bar(ul(color(white)(a/a)color(black)("220,000 seconds")color(white)(a/a)|)))#