Answer: The eccentricity of the Earth's orbit is approximately 0.016.
Explanation:
To find the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit, we can use the formula:
eccentricity = (a - b) / (a + b)
where "a" is the semi-major axis (half of the sum of the maximum and minimum distances from the Sun) and "b" is the semi-minor axis (half of the difference between the maximum and minimum distances from the Sun).
Given that the Earth's distance from the Sun varies from 147.2 million km to 152.1 million km, we can calculate the semi-major axis and semi-minor axis as follows:
a = (147.2 + 152.1) / 2 = 149.65 million km
b = (152.1 - 147.2) / 2 = 2.45 million km
Now, let's substitute these values into the formula:
eccentricity = (149.65 - 2.45) / (149.65 + 2.45)
Calculating this expression gives us:
eccentricity ≈ 0.016
Therefore, the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit is approximately 0.016.
I hope this helps :)