It's a question that poped up to my head, and I asked the teacher, but he tolod me to fin out. I looked on the internet, but I can't find it!! If you could tell me the web site, or the answer, that would be great!! Thanks!
2007-01-09 15:10:37 · 7 answers · asked by Kazzy 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
If you take the mean distance between the sun and the earth (right about 93,000,000 miles) and divide the distance by the speed of light (186,300 miles per second), you'll get the result of 499 seconds (rounded) or about 8 1/4 minutes.
What this means is that if the sun were to explode all of a sudden, we wouldn't know about it for over 8 minutes!
2007-01-09 15:22:39 · answer #1 · answered by Richard B 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually it is about eight minutes.
The exact answer would depend on the better measurement of the distance that the photon has to travel because the distance between the sun and the earth is constantly changing.
The calculation is easy to do. Find the average distance from the sun to the earth and divide by the speed of light because it is a photon of light, it travels at the speed of light.
On the internet, you should have searched, how long does it take LIGHT to travel from the sun to the earth. The answer is eight minutes. So when you look at the sun, you are seeing what happened eight minutes ago.
2007-01-09 23:18:07 · answer #2 · answered by The Prince 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It depends on what reference frame you consider. If you imagine you are the photon, it takes almost no time at all. Since you are travelling at the speed of light, relativity says that all distances in the direction of your travel shrink to zero, so you get anywhere you are going almost instantaneously. If you are here on the earth, at rest while the photon is travelling, relativity says that time goes by more slowly, or about 8 minutes go by for you while you are waiting for the photon to get here. Usually we just say it takes the photon 8 minutes, skirting the viewpoint in the photons frame of reference.
2007-01-09 23:18:02 · answer #3 · answered by ZeedoT 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
8 minutes
2007-01-10 00:45:14 · answer #4 · answered by corneliocmc 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it should take 8 minutes but if theres traffic it could be longer.
2007-01-09 23:34:33 · answer #5 · answered by fuufingf 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think i read somewhere that it only takes 8 minutes
2007-01-09 23:18:28 · answer #6 · answered by techfan22 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The 'speed of light' is your answer.
2007-01-09 23:46:18 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋