A single-span steel bridge is supported by a cable whose length is measured to be
PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Measurements and their errors · Measurements and their errors
Problem
A single-span steel bridge is supported by a cable whose length is measured to be 12.8km. The density of steel gives a mass per unit length of the cable as 7.85kgm−1. Answer the following.
(i) Convert the length of the cable to metres and express the result in scientific notation.
(ii) Convert the same length to millimetres and write it using an SI prefix that keeps the coefficient between 1 and 1000.
(iii) Calculate the total mass of the cable in kilograms, then express this mass with an appropriate SI prefix so that the coefficient again lies between 1 and 1000.