Mercury orbits the Sun with an everage speed of 47,800,000 m/s. About how long does Mercury take to orbit the Sun?
I'm quite confused.
To find out how long Mercury takes to orbit the Sun, we need to divide the distance of the orbit by its average speed.
First, we need to know the distance of Mercury's orbit. The average distance of Mercury from the Sun is approximately 57.9 million kilometers or 57,900,000,000 meters.
Next, we can calculate the time it takes for Mercury to complete one orbit using the formula:
Time = Distance / Speed
Plugging in the values:
Time = 57,900,000,000 meters / 47,800,000 m/s
Now we can solve this equation to find the time it takes for Mercury to orbit the Sun:
Time = 1,209.79 seconds
To express this time in a more convenient unit, we can convert seconds to minutes. There are 60 seconds in a minute, so:
Time in minutes = 1,209.79 seconds / 60
Time in minutes ≈ 20.16 minutes
Therefore, it takes approximately 20.16 minutes for Mercury to complete one orbit around the Sun.