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42 votes
42 votes
determine the distance that light travels in a year.How long does it take light to travel 10 km? how long does it take sound to travel 10 km? How long does it take light to travel from the moon to earth?

User Zaratustra
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1 Answer

21 votes
21 votes

The speed of light is equal to 300000 km/s.

Let's find how many seconds there are in a year:

1 year = 365 days = 365 * 24 hours = 365 * 24 * 60 minutes = 365 * 24 * 60 * 60 seconds

Now, multiplying this amount of time by the speed of light, we have the distance traveled by the light in one year:

distance = speed * time

distance = 300000 * 365 * 24 * 60 * 60

distance = 9,460,800,000,000 km

Now, the time needed for a distance of 10 km is:

distance = speed * time

10 = 300000 * time

time = 10/300000

time = 3.33 * 10^-5 seconds

The speed of sound is about 1225 km/h.

So, for a distance of 10 km, we have:

10 = 1225 * t

t = 10/1225

t = 0.008163265 hours

t = 29.39 seconds

The distance from moon to Earth is 384,400 km, so the time needed is:

384400 = 300000 * t

t = 384400/300000

t = 1.2813 seconds

User Abhishek Gurjar
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2.6k points