Question

The Voyager I spacecraft has traveled farther than any other man-made object, and in August 2012 it entered into interstellar space when it was a distance of 1.8 x 10^13 m from Earth.

How many hours elapse between the time a command is sent from Earth and the time the command is received by Voyagerwhen it entered interstellar space? Express your answer using two significant figures.

Answer 1

17 h

Step-by-step explanation:

The command sent to the Voyager I is a radio wave signal, which travels at the speed of light:

`c=3.0\cdot 10^8 m/s`

The distance between the Voyager I and the Earth is

`d=1.8\cdot 10^(13) m`

So, the time taken for the signal to reach the probe is

`t=(d)/(c)=(1.8\cdot 10^(13) m)/(3\cdot 10^8 m/s)=60,000 s`

Consindering that the number of seconds in 1 hour is

`60\cdot 60 = 3600 s`

Then the time elapsed converted into seconds is

`t=(60000 s)/(3600 s)=16.7 h \sim 17 h`