Chapter EH, Problem 59R

Solution

Interpretation: The time taken by sunlight to reach Earth needs to be calculated.

Concept Introduction: The relation between speed, distance, and time is as follows:

  $s=\frac{d}{t}$

Here, s is speed, d is distance and t is time.

500 s.

The distance of the Sun from Earth is 150 million km or $150\times {10}^6\text{ km}$ . The speed of light is $3.00\times {10}^5\text{ km/s}$ .

From the given distance and speed, the time taken by sunlight to reach Earth can be calculated as follows:

  $t=\frac{d}{s}$

Substituting the values,

  $\begin{array}{c}t=\frac{150\times {10}^6\text{ km}}{3.00\times {10}^5\text{ km/s}}\\ =500\text{ s}\end{array}$

Thus, the time taken by sunlight to reach Earth is 500 s.