A the sun has a brightness when viewd from Earth. how much dimmer would the sun appear if you were standing on Jupitor (which is 5 times further from the sun than Earth)? How about if you were looking at the sun from Pluto (which 40 times further from the sun than Earth)?
2007-05-06 15:42:51 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Mathematics
It's the inverse square law. On Jupiter (5 times farther away) the Sun is 1/(5*5) = 0.04 times as bright. On Pluto (40 times) it is 1/(40*40) = 0.0006 times as bright.
2007-05-06 15:50:55 · answer #1 · answered by Pretzels 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Think of the light from the sun spreading over the surface of a sphere. Anything that speads in such a fashion obeys what's called the 'inverse square law'. Gravity is and example
It amounts to conservation of energy.
A sphere with 5 times the radius has and area 5^2 = 25 larger thus the light would be 1/25 dimmer. Same deal with Pluto.
2007-05-06 23:04:24 · answer #2 · answered by modulo_function 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
From Jupiter: 1/25 as bright.
From Pluto: 1/1600 as bright.
2007-05-06 22:50:19 · answer #3 · answered by bruinfan 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋