Final answer:
To reach the sun, one would need approximately 29.92 trillion rice grains laid end to end, assuming the average length of a rice grain is 0.5 cm and the distance to the sun is 149.6 million kilometers. This mathematical exercise also illustrates how the amount of rice could feed the current global population for about 240 years based on the daily metabolic requirement of 2,000 kcal.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question of how many rice grains laid end to end it would take to reach the sun is a mathematical problem involving large numbers. To answer this, we need to consider the average length of a rice grain and the distance from the Earth to the sun. The average length of a long grain of rice is about 0.5 cm. The average distance from the Earth to the sun, also known as an astronomical unit (AU), is about 149.6 million kilometers or 149.6 billion meters.
Since 1 meter is equivalent to 100 centimeters, we first convert the distance to the sun from meters to centimeters: 149.6 billion meters × 100 = 14.96 trillion centimeters. Now, dividing this distance by the length of one rice grain: 14.96 trillion cm ÷ 0.5 cm/grain gives us the number of rice grains. For simplicity, the result would be 29.92 trillion grains of rice needed to reach the sun.
If we were to consider feeding the current world population with the amount of rice computed for reaching the sun, it's suggested we could use this supply for about 240 years. To verify this, we would need to compute the daily rice consumption multiplied by the world population and the number of days in 240 years. This is based on the calculation that 30,000 grains of rice are equivalent to 2,000 kcal of metabolic content.