A weighty error in fine science article

Loved reading " The 10 ' most beautiful experiments of all time "
   
    in the Providence Sunday Journal, Sept.29, page A-17. But a weighty
   
    error that cannot be dismissed as a typo is right here : the eccentric
   
    Henry Cavendish had ingeniously weighed the earth. But the figure given
   
    in your article fails to  indicate EXPONENTIAL value. The approximate
   
    mass of the earth is 6.0 x 10 ( multiplied by itself 24 times ).
   
           NOT 6.0 x 1024 kilograms. A good banker knows what compound
   
    interest does to a sum of money. Tell him he is worth that in gold and
   
    he will smile. Give it as EXPONENTIAL and he will faint: He now owns
   
    the universe !
   
              Was a New York Times editor asleep on the job ? A while
   
    back this humble letter writer discovered them to be obtuse on
   
    the famous Periodic Table.
   
                 But THANKS for a very interesting story !