Question

The energy from the sun is produced in the core through the process of nuclear fusion. The photons travel through the sun and are released as radiation which travels to the earth. How long does it take to reach the earth?

Answer 1

8 min 20 seconds

Step-by-step explanation:

Radiation from the sun travels as light through the vacuum of space. Therefore, it is travelling at the speed of light which is roughly 300,000 km/s. If we divide this speed by the average distance between the Sun and the Earth (150,000,000 km) we would get a total of 500 seconds. We can now turn this total time into minutes which would be roughly 8 min and 20 seconds. Therefore, it would take a total of 8 min 20 seconds for radiation from the Sun to reach Earth.