Question

The distance between Earth and the sun is roughly 150,000,000 km. If it takes sunlight 8.3 min to reach Earth, what is the speed of light (in m/s)?

Answer 1

Speed of light,
`v=3.01* 10^8\ m/s`

Step-by-step explanation:

It is given that,

The distance between Earth and the sun is roughly 150,000,000 km,
`d=150,000,000\ km=15* 10^(10)\ m`

Time taken by the sunlight to reach the Earth, t = 8.3 min = 498 sec

Let v is the speed of light. It can be calculated as the total distance covered divided by total time taken. Mathematically, it is given by :

`v=(d)/(t)`

`v=(15* 10^(10)\ m)/(498\ s)`

`v=3.01* 10^8\ m/s`

So, the speed of light is
`3.01* 10^8\ m/s`. Hence, this is the required solution.