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Problem of the Week 9

Time with a Cesium Clock: The NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology) F-1 Cesium fountain clock built in 1999 is accurate to $5.0 \times 10^{-8}$ second/year. Accuracy of this level is important for many scientific processes such as global positioning systems on airplanes and the design of microelectronic devices. How many seconds does the clock vary from the actual time in

a. A century

b. 10,000 years

c. 20,000,000 years

Note: Do not use decimal arithmetic. Your calculations must be in scientific notation.