Question

The whitish distance across the scale model of the planet Venus is 15 cm. The actual widest distance across Venus is approximately 12,000 km. What is the scale of the Model of Venus

Answer 1

Answer:

  1 cm : 800 km   or   1/80,000,000

Step-by-step explanation:

A model or map scale is often expressed as ...

  (1 unit of A on the model) : (N units of B in the real world)

We're given the relative measurements as ...

  15 cm : 12,000 km

Dividing by 15 gives the unit ratio as above:

  1 cm : 800 km

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A scale can also be expressed as a unitless fraction. To find that, we need to convert the units of both parts of this ratio to the same unit.

  0.01 m : 800,000 m

Multiplying by 100, we get ...

  1 m : 80,000,000 m

Since the units are the same, they aren't needed, and we can write the scale factor as ...

  1 : 80,000,000   or   1/80,000,000