Question

Decide on a reasonable speed for an ant in meters per hour. Use your speed to find how many days it would take an ant to go around the Earth.

Answer 1

Given:

The objective is to find the number of days required by an ant to go around the Earth.

Let's assume the reasonable speed of an ant as 0.045 m/hr.

It is known that the radius of the Earth is 6357000 meters.

The distance to be covered by the ant is the circumference of the Earth.

The time required by the ant in hours can be calculated as,

`\begin{gathered} \text{Time}=(Dis\tan ace)/(Speed) \\ t=(6357000)/(0.045) \\ t=141266666.667\text{ hours.} \end{gathered}`

To convert the value of time from hours to days, divide the time by 24.

`\begin{gathered} t=(141266666.667)/(24) \\ t=5886111.111 \\ t\approx5886111\text{ days.} \end{gathered}`

Hence, the ant would take 5886111 days to go around the Earth.