Light from the Sun takes about 8.0 min to reach Earth. How far away is the Sun?
1 Answer
Mar 24, 2016
z = 149.4 million km.
Explanation:
This is fairly simple you just have to remember a simple equation.
z = c * t
if you know the time that light takes to reach us then you can calculate the distance to that object and vice versa.
In the above equation,
z is the distance to the object.
t is the time light takes from the object to reach us
c is the speed of light which is always constant about 300,000 km/ sec.
The time light takes to reach us from the Sun is about 8.3 minutes.
z = 8.3 * 300,000
Note that the speed of light is in units of km/ sec so we will have to convert minutes into seconds.
1 minute = 60 seconds
8.3 minutes = 8.3 * 60
8.3 minutes = 498 seconds.
z = 498 * 3
z = 149400000 km
OR
z = 149.4 million km.
