Which of these describes the flow of energy as rock salt is dissolved in water?

Yes you are correct use the scientific method

  remember that hf is only the energy of one photon. not two. not three. one.  1) 5.12 * 10^3 photons  find the energy of one photon, then determine how many photons are needed to reach the sensitivity.  e = hf  = (6.626 * 10^-34 js)(5.95 * 10^19 hz)  = 3.94247 * 10^-14 j per photon  (2.02 * 10^-10 j) / (3.94247 * 10^-14 j/photon) = 5123.69149 photons  round to three sig figs.  2) 5.77 * 10^-17 j  energy of pulse = energy per photon * number of photons  = hfn  = (6.626 * 10^-34 js)(1.66 * 10^13 hz)(5250)  = 5.774559 * 10^-17 j  round to three sig figs.  3) 4.07 * 10^8 kj/mol  10^12 pm = 1 m  c = fλ  f = c/λ  e = hf  = hc/λ  = [(6.626 * 10^-34 js)(3.00 * 10^8 m/s) / (2.94 * 10^-12 m)](1 kj/1000 j)(6.02 * 10^23 photons/mol)  = 40702571.4 kj/mol  round to three sig figs.  4) 9.94 * 10^-1 m  e = hc/λ  λ = hc / e  = (6.626 * 10^-34 js)(3.00 * 10^8 m/s) / (2.00 * 10^-25 j)  = 0.9939 m  round to three sig figs.  5) 9.06 * 10^3 photons  energy of pulse = energy per photon * number of photons  number of photons = energy of pulse / energy per photon  = energy of pulse / (hf)  = (3.87 * 10^-13 j) / [(6.626 * 10^-34 js)(6.45 * 10^16 hz)]  = 9055.23695 photons  round to three sig figs.  6) 2.78 * 10^-15 j  this is problem 1, except in reverse.  sensitivity = minumum number of photons * energy per photon  = (5930)(6.626 * 10^-34 js)(7.077 * 10^14 hz)  = 2.78070758 × 10^-15 j  round to three sig figs.