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How do scientists know how long it takes light to reach the earth from the sun?

Answer 1

Assuming they know the distance #x# from the earth to the sun, (in reality around #1.44xx10^8km#) they can calculate the time #t# it takes light to travel from the sun to the earth since the speed of light is a constant #c=3xx10^8m//s# through air and vacuum and so they can use the formula that #t=x/c#. In reality this comes to around 8 minutes.

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Answer 2

Luke Allen

The approximate time it takes for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth is 8 minutes and 20 seconds, which scientists calculate by taking the distance between the Earth and the Sun, which is approximately 93 million miles (150 million kilometers), and dividing that distance by the speed of light, which is approximately 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second).

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.