Question

During an experiment, a signal from a spaceship reached the ground station in five minutes. What was the distance of the spaceship from the ground station? The signal travels at the speed of light, that is, 3 × 10⁸m s⁻¹.

Answer 1

Time taken by the signal to reach the ground station from the spaceship.

= 5 min 

= 5 × 60

= 300 s

Speed of the signal = 3 × 10⁸ m/s

`"Speed"="Distance travelled"/"Time taken"`

∴ Distance travelled = Speed × Time taken

= 3 × 10⁸ × 300

= 9 × 10¹⁰ m

Hence, the distance of the spaceship from the ground station is 9 × 10¹⁰ m.