Question

Light from the Sun takes about 8.0 min to reach Earth. How far away is the Sun?

Answer 1

$\huge{\mathfrak{\underline{\underline{Solution}}}}$



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.

Answer 2

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.