Homework Help: science

Posted by Anonymous on Monday, June 6, 2011 at 10:16am.

You are somewhere in the middle of the country and a satellite that is a short distance above San Francisco sends out a pulse that your GPS receiver tells you took 0.002 seconds to reach you. Since you know that the radio signal travels at the speed of light, how far does this mean you are from San Francisco (neglect the distance between San Francisco and the satellite)? Explain your response.

science - bobpursley, Monday, June 6, 2011 at 11:01am
Hmmmmm. This question begs for discussion. "Ignore the distance between the satellite and SFran".....does that also mean to ignore the curvature of the Earth, otherwise, the GPS signal cannot be line of sight to the "middle of the country".

distance=velocitylight*time is probably what your teacher wants you to use.

Answer this Question

Related Questions

Physics - A radio receiver is set up on a mast in the middle of a calm lake to ...
physics - A radio receiver is set up on a mast in the middle of a calm lake to ...
physics - A radio receiver is set up on a mast in the middle of a calm lake to ...
physics - A 71.4 kg satellite orbits the earth at a distance of 7.00E6 m from ...
algebra - the formula d=(square root)12,800+h^2 gives the distance d in ...
Phyisics - A spy satellite is in circular orbit around Earth. It makes one ...
Physics - A 3000kg satellite orbits the Earth 400km above the equator. find a)...
Physics 203 - A satellite with a mass of 310 kg moves in a circular orbit 7.00*...
physics - An artificial satellite placed into earth's orbit has a mass of ...
Physics - A satellite orbits the earth at a distance of 10,000 miles from the ...

For Further Reading

First Name:
School Subject:
Answer: