Question

how long would it take for a radio wave sent from a space satellite circling mars to reach Earth? Assume that radio waves (a form of electromagnetic radiation) travel at the speed of light?

Answer 1

Answer:

3 Minutes 2 seconds to 22 minutes 16 seconds

Explanation:

Lets assume the Mars to be at the closest distance to Earth. This distance (D) = 54.6 Million km

The signal travels at the speed of light, so speed of the signal (V) = 300000 km/s

So, the time (T) taken by the radio wave to reach Earth from Mars will be,

$T = \frac{D}{V}$

$T = \frac{54600000}{300000}$

Thus, T = 182 Sec = 3 Minutes 2 seconds.

The radio wave will take minimum 03 Minutes 02 seconds to reach Earth. Here is should be noted that the distance between the two planets keep on changing as they revolve around the Sun. There will come a point when Mars is farthest from Earth and the distance (D) will be 401 Million km. Then, the time will change to ,

$T = \frac{401000000}{300000}$

T = 1336.67 sec = 22.27 Minutes.

So the maximum time will be 22 minutes 16 seconds.