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Chapter 8: Problem 8

In astronomy, distances are measured in light-years, the distance that light travels in one year. What is the distance of one light-year expressed in kilometers?

Short Answer

Expert verified
A light-year is approximately \(9.461 \times 10^{12}\) kilometers.

Step by step solution

01

Determine the seconds in a year

There are \(60\) seconds in a minute, \(60\) minutes in an hour, \(24\) hours in a day, and \(365\) days in a year. So, the total number of seconds in a year can be calculated as follows: \(60 \times 60 \times 24 \times 365 = 31,536,000\) seconds.
02

Calculate the total kilometers light travels in one year

Using the formula for distance, \(Distance = Speed \times Time\), substitute the speed of light (\(299,792\) kilometers per second) and the time (number of seconds in a year) into the formula, \(Distance = 299,792 \times 31,536,000\).
03

Calculate the distance

Calculate the result of the multiplication in the previous step, which gives the distance of one light-year in kilometers.

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