A water desalination plant can produce \( 2.6 \times 10^{6} \) gallons of water in one day. How many gallons can it produce in 7 days? Write your answer in scientific notation.

In one day, the desalination plant produces \( 2.6 \times 10^{6} \) gallons. To find out how much it can produce in 7 days, you simply multiply \( 2.6 \times 10^{6} \) by 7. So, \[ 7 \times (2.6 \times 10^{6}) = 18.2 \times 10^{6} \] Now, to express it in scientific notation, you can convert \( 18.2 \) into \( 1.82 \) and increase the exponent by 1: \[ 1.82 \times 10^{7} \] So, the water desalination plant can produce \( 1.82 \times 10^{7} \) gallons in 7 days. --- Fun Fact: The world’s largest desalination plant, located in Saudi Arabia, can produce over 1 million cubic meters of fresh water every day! That’s like providing water for over 2 million people. Ever wondered how desalination plants work? They use methods like reverse osmosis and distillation to remove salt from seawater. It's fascinating to see how technology turns salty ocean water into fresh drinkable water, helping to combat water scarcity in many regions!