It takes the Mars rover 4.5 minutes to send information via a radio signal traveling at the speed of light back to Mission Control on Earth.How far away is the rover? A)8.1 $\times$ 10¹⁰km B)1.35 $\times$ 10⁹m C)8.10 $\times$ 10¹⁰m D)1.35 $\times$ 10⁹km E)1.62 $\times$ 10¹¹m

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

To find the distance, we can use the formula: distance = speed x time. The speed is the speed of light, which is approximately 3 x 10^8 meters per second. The time it takes for the signal to travel to Mars and back is 2 times 4.5 minutes or 9 minutes, which is equal to 9 x 60 seconds = 540 seconds.

Therefore, distance = speed x time = 3 x 10^8 meters/second x 540 seconds = 1.62 x 10^11 meters, which is equal to 162 million kilometers.

The only choice that matches this calculation is C.

It Takes the Mars Rover 4 ×\times× 1010 km B)1 ×\times× 109 m C)8

It Takes the Mars Rover 4 $\times$ 10¹⁰km
B)1 $\times$ 10⁹m
C)8