Final answer:
The light beam can travel about 9 × 10⁸ meters in 3 seconds, by multiplying the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s) by the time interval (3 seconds).
Step-by-step explanation:
The student asked: About how far can a light beam travel in 3 seconds if the speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second? The answer is found by multiplying the speed of light by the given time interval (3 seconds).
Speed of light, c = 299,792,458 m/s
Time, t = 3 s
Distance, d = c × t
Therefore, d = 299,792,458 m/s × 3 s = 899,377,374 meters.
To express this number in the form of a single digit multiplied by a power of 10, we write 899,377,374 as approximately 9 × 108 meters, since 9 × 108 is equal to 900,000,000, which is close to our calculated distance.
The light beam can travel about 9 × 108 meters in 3 seconds.