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In May 2019, the distance between Earth and Mars was 3.9 × 10^7 km - Edexcel - GCSE Maths - Question 12 - 2019 - Paper 3
Question 12
In May 2019, the distance between Earth and Mars was 3.9 × 10^7 km. In May 2019, a signal was sent from Earth to Mars. Assuming that the signal sent from Earth to M... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:In May 2019, the distance between Earth and Mars was 3.9 × 10^7 km - Edexcel - GCSE Maths - Question 12 - 2019 - Paper 3
Step 1
how long did the signal take to get to Mars?
Answer
To calculate the time it takes for the signal to reach Mars, we can use the formula:
ext{Time} = rac{ ext{Distance}}{ ext{Speed}}- The distance between Earth and Mars is given as 3.9 × 10^7 km.
- The speed of the signal is 3 × 10^5 km/s.
Plugging in these values gives:
ext{Time} = rac{3.9 imes 10^7 ext{ km}}{3 imes 10^5 ext{ km/s}} = 130 ext{ seconds}Therefore, the signal took 130 seconds to reach Mars.
Step 2
How will this affect your answer to part (a)?
Answer
Since the actual speed of the signal sent from Earth to Mars in May 2019 was less than 3 × 10^5 km/s, the time calculated in part (a) would be based on an overestimate of the speed.
As a result, the actual time taken for the signal to reach Mars will be more than 130 seconds. This means the answer from part (a) is not accurate and the real duration will exceed this figure.