caitlinmarie
Answered

Light travels at a speed of 3.0 times 10 to the 8th power m/s. If it takes light from the sun 5.0 times 10 to the 2nd power to read earth, what is the distance between earth and the sun?



Answer :

AL2006
You didn't tell what unit goes with the " 5 x 10² ". That would make this question impossible for somebody who doesn't already know the distance.

If it's 5 x 10² minutes, then the distance is

(3 x 10⁸ m/s) x (5 x 10² minutes) x (60 sec/min) = 9 billion kilometers.

I happen to know that's not right.

Now, let's go back and try   5 x 10² seconds.

Distance = (3 x 10⁸ m/s) x (5 x 10² sec) = 150 million km . . . 93.2 million miles.

Much better !

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