Order Of Magnitude
An astronomer estimates the diameter of a hydrogen atom as approximately 1.06 angstrom while preparing a scale model of matter. What is the order of magnitude of this diameter in metres?
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About This Question
- Subject
- physics
- Chapter
- physics and measurement
- Topic
- order of magnitude
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Year
- 2025
Solution
Correct Answer:
10−10
As covered in NCERT Class 11, Chapter 2 (Units and Measurements), the order of magnitude is the power of ten nearest to a quantity when written in standard scientific notation, obtained by rounding the leading coefficient. One angstrom equals 10^{-10} m, so 1.06 angstrom equals 1.06 × 10^{-10} m. Since the coefficient 1.06 is less than the rounding threshold of about 3.16, it rounds down to 1, leaving the order of magnitude as 10^{-10}. The option 10^{-9} is wrong because that corresponds to a nanometre, ten times larger than an angstrom. The option 10^{-11} is wrong as it would require a coefficient below one tenth of an angstrom. The option 10^{-8} is wrong since it overestimates the atomic size by a hundredfold. A sanity check confirms that atomic dimensions are universally quoted on the angstrom scale, which is exactly 10^{-10} m, matching the chosen answer.
This easy difficulty physics question is from the chapter physics and measurement, covering the topic of order of magnitude. It appeared in the 2025 exam.
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