Which of the following is an advantage of using scientific notation in chemistry?

• A. It eliminates the need for units in measurements.
• B. It allows for easier representation and calculation with very large or very small numbers.
• C. It converts all numbers to whole numbers.
• D. It increases the number of significant figures in a measurement.

Answer: (B)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Understand that scientific notation is a method of expressing numbers that are too large or too small to be conveniently written in decimal form.
2. Recognize that scientific notation expresses numbers as a product of a number between 1 and 10 and a power of 10, written as \(a \times 10^{n}\), where \$1 \leq a < 10\( and \)n$ is an integer.
3. Note that this format makes it easier to handle very large numbers (like Avogadro's number, \$6.022 \times 10^{23}\() or very small numbers (like the charge of an electron, \)1.602 \times 10^{-19}$ C) without writing many zeros.
4. Understand that scientific notation does not eliminate units, convert numbers to whole numbers, or increase significant figures; its main advantage is simplifying representation and calculations involving extreme values.
5. Therefore, the key advantage is that scientific notation allows for easier representation and calculation with very large or very small numbers.