SOLUTION: The velocity of light is 6.71 � 10^8 mi/hr. The distance of Mercury from the Sun is approximately 5.78 � 10^7 km. How many minutes will it take for light from the Sun to travel to

Question 280490: The velocity of light is 6.71 � 10^8 mi/hr. The distance of Mercury from the Sun is approximately 5.78 � 10^7 km. How many minutes will it take for light from the Sun to travel to Mercury?
what i've gotten: 5.78 x 10^7 km = 35915254.911 mi
Found 2 solutions by Theo, richwmiller:
Answer by Theo(13342) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
velocity of light is 6.71 * 10^8 miles per hour.
mercury is approximately 5.78 * 10^7 kilometers from the sun.
how many minutes for the light to get from the sun to mercury?

1 kilometer = 0.621371192 miles

divide both sides of this equation by .621371192 and you get:

1 mile = 1.609344001 kilometers

this means that 5.78 * 10^7 kilometers equals 9.302008324 * 10^7 miles.

1 minute = 1 hour / 60

this means that 6.71 * 10^8 miles per hour equals .111833333333 * 10^8 miles per minute.

Rate * Time = Distance

This translates to:

Time = Distance / Rate

Our distance is 9.302008324 * 10^7 miles

Our rate is .111833333333 * 10^8 miles per minute.

We divide (9.302008324 * 10^7) by (.111833333333 * 10^8) to get:

minutes.

Answer is:

It takes 8.317742167 minutes for light to reach mercury from the sun.

Answer by richwmiller(17219) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Somehow the distance the other tutor calculated for Mercury to the sun is the distance from the earth to the sun.
9.3*10^7 miles is the distance from the earth to the sun
Using your calculations in miles which is close to the average 36 million miles.
3.5915254911*10^7/(6.71 � 10^8*60)=3.21 minutes not 8 minutes which it takes to the earth
RELATED QUESTIONS
the speed of light is given as 3.0 *10^5 km /sec.the sun is approximately 1.082 *10^8km... (answered by checkley77)
The speed of light is approximately 3 � 10^5 km/s and the average distance between Pluto... (answered by Alan3354,josgarithmetic)
Mercury's average distance from the sun is 57,910,000 km. The Earth is approximately... (answered by College Student)
The distance from the sun to Earth is 1.496 x 10^8 km. How long does it take light to... (answered by ankor@dixie-net.com)
the distance from the sun to earth is approximately 1.5 times 10 to the power of 8 km.... (answered by ptaylor)
the orbit of mercury around the sun forms an ellipse with eccentricity 0.206,length of... (answered by ValorousDawn)
the orbit of mercury around the sun forms an ellipse with eccentricity 0.206,length of... (answered by Alan3354)
The distance from the earth to the sun is 93 million miles. The speed of light is 9.8 x... (answered by feliz1965)
The distance from the sun to earth is 93 million miles. If the speed of light is 9.83569 (answered by Alan3354)