Final answer:
The distance between Polaris and Earth is 4.08 × 1018 meters, calculated by converting the light-year distance into kilometers and then to meters.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine the distance between Polaris and Earth in meters, we first need to calculate the number of kilometers in one light-year, and then convert it to meters. A light-year is the distance light travels in one year at a speed of 3 × 105 kilometers per second (km/s). Since there are 31,536,000 seconds in a year (60 seconds × 60 minutes × 24 hours × 365 days), we can calculate the distance of one light-year in kilometers as follows:
1 light-year = (3 × 105 km/s) × (31,536,000 s)
1 light-year = 9.46 × 1012 kilometers
To find the distance in meters, we convert kilometers to meters:
1 kilometer = 1,000 meters
Distance of Polaris in kilmeters = 431 light-years × 9.46 × 1012 km/light-year
Distance of Polaris in meters = Distance of Polaris in kilometers × 1,000 meters/kilometer
Distance of Polaris in meters = 431 × 9.46 × 1012 km × 1,000 m/km
Distance of Polaris in meters = 4.08 × 1018 meters