Question

Calvin is setting up a model of the solar system. He positions a cardboard sun at one end of a school hallway and Pluto at the other end, 20 m away.

Calvin knows that Pluto is 39.5 AU from the sun and Jupiter is 5.27 AU from the sun
In order to make his model scale, how many meters from the cardboard sun should Calvin place Jupiter? (record your answer to two decimal places or nearest hundredth)

Answer 1

2.67 m

Step-by-step explanation:

We can write the proportion several ways. One of them is ...

(model to Jupiter)/(Jupiter distance) = (model to Pluto)/(Pluto distance)

(model to Jupiter)/5.27 = 20 m/39.5 . . . . . fill in the numbers

(model to Jupiter) = 20 m(5.27/39.5) ≈ 2.67 m

The model of Jupiter should be placed 2.67 meters from the sun.