si unit conversion

[Chaleah Duran]

I have a question when it comes to conversions and calculations. Wouldn't 402x10-9 nm be the same as 4.02x10-7 m when I plug it into my calculator? Also is 4.02x10^-7m the same as 402nm? I am really confused when it comes to conversions can someone help?

[Kaira Shibata 1E]

Hi. For the first one, it would be that 409 nm (without the 10-9) is equal to 4.09*10-7m. Also 4.02*10-7 is the same as 402 nm. You can just think about the "nano" (n) being the *10^-9 part of the number. For the 4.02*^10-7, that is equal to 402*^10-9 (you would just add two to the exponent if you were to write it as 4.02 instead of 402). Hope that helps!

[Chaleah Duran]

Oh that makes much more sense to me now. Thank you so much!

[davis sandberg 2H]

4.02x10^-9 m is equivalent to 4.02 nm. Likewise, 402nm will equal 4.02x10^-7m.

[Amanda Tran 1D]

Remember that 1 nm = 10^-9 m or that 1 m = 10⁹ nm. So when you try to convert between units, start with what you're given with - in this case, 4.02*^10^-7 m. To convert to nm, we take 4.02*^10^-7 m and multiply it by . The meters units will 'cancel' out, leaving you with a value in nm which should give you the correct conversion from meters to nm.

[Alexander Moroz 1B]

Your example of 402x10^-9 nm would be 4.02x10^-11 nm. This can then be converted to 4.02x10^-20 m