Comments by "EebstertheGreat" (@EebstertheGreat) on "Scientific Notation - Explained!" video.
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@harvingaming3203 He's just doing the math Derek asked him to do at the end of the episode. Using the figures given, the Sun has a mass of 2×10³⁰ kg, and a proton has a mass of 1.673×10⁻²⁷ kg, so if we want to know how many protons would have a mass equal to the Sun's, we just divide, and using the fundamental property of exponents, find that the sun has as much mass as (2×10³⁰ kg)/(1.673×10⁻²⁷ kg) = (2/1.673)×10³⁰⁻⁽⁻²⁷⁾ = (2/1.673)×10³⁰⁺²⁷ = (2/1.673)×10⁵⁷ protons. Finally, using a calculator or long division to divide 2 by 1.673, we get about 1.195, yielding the answer of 1.195×10⁵⁷ protons.
If Firaro had just looked up the answer, he would have found that the Sun only really contains 1.058×10⁵⁷ protons. The difference is mostly due to the fact that the Sun also contains a large number of neutrons (almost all of which are in the nuclei of helium and deuterium). So Firaro didn't search for the answer. He calculated it like the video asked and got the right answer.
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