The distance from the Earth to the sun is approximately 9.37 x 10^7 miles. How long does ti take for light from the sun to reach the earth? Speed of light is 3.00 x 10^8 m/s. Show work.
there are 2.54 cm in a inch
...12 inches in a foot
...5280 feet in a mile
multiply to find the cm in a mile
...divide by 100 to find the meters
convert 9.37 x 10^7 mi to meters
...by multiplying
divide the result by 3 x 10^8
the answer is in sec
...THREE significant figures
...should be a little under 500
To calculate the time it takes for light from the sun to reach the Earth, we can use the formula:
Time = Distance / Speed
First, let's convert the distance from miles to meters. We know that 1 mile is equal to 1609.34 meters. So the distance from the Earth to the sun in meters is:
9.37 x 10^7 miles * 1609.34 meters/mile = 1.50 x 10^11 meters
Now, we can use the formula to calculate the time:
Time = (1.50 x 10^11 meters) / (3.00 x 10^8 m/s)
We can simplify this by canceling out the units:
Time = (1.50 x 10^11) / (3.00 x 10^8)
= 5 x 10^2 seconds
So it takes approximately 500 seconds for light from the sun to reach the Earth.