Light in a vacuum travels at a constant speed of 3x10^8 m/s. If the moons average distance from the earth is 38776106 km how long would it take for a beam of light to travel from earth to the moon and back to earth again?

Answer :

cryssatemp

Answer: 258.3 s

Explanation:

The speed [tex]s[/tex] is given by the following equation:

[tex]s=\frac{D}{t}[/tex]

Where:

[tex]s=3(10)^{8} m/s[/tex] is the speed of light in vacuum

[tex]D=2(38776106 km \frac{1000 m}{1 km})=7.75(10)^{10} m[/tex] is the double of the distance between Earth and Moon, since the beam of light travels from Earth to the Moon and back to Earth again.

[tex]t[/tex] is the time it takes to the beam of light to travel the mentioned distance

Isolating [tex]t[/tex] and solving with the given information:

[tex]t=\frac{D}{s}[/tex]

[tex]t=\frac{7.75(10)^{10} m}{3(10)^{8} m/s}[/tex]

Finally:

[tex]t=258.3 s \approx 258 s[/tex]

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