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
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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.
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
