Question

How long does it take (in minutes) for light to reach mercury from the sun, a distance of 6.02 × 107 km?

Answer 1

SoL = 2.998 x 10^8 m/s
Distance 6.26 x 107 km

Speed of light = 299,800,000 m/s
Distance = 669.82 km
Distance = 669,820 meters

669,820 / 299,800,000 = 0.00223 seconds Sun to Mercury

Answer 2

Light travels at a speed of:

`c=3 \cdot 10^8 m/s`
The distance between Mercury and Sun is
`S=6.02 \cdot 10^7 km=6.02 \cdot 10^(10) m`, so the time it takes is

`t= (S)/(c)= (6.02 \cdot 10^(10) m)/(3 \cdot 10^8 m/s) =200.7 s`
if we want to convert this into minutes, keeping in mind that 1 min = 60 seconds, we should divide this value by 60:

`t= (200.7 s)/(60 s/min)=3.34 min`