Question

A star is a swirling mass of dense gases powered by thermonuclear reactions. The great solar furnace transforms 7 million tons of mass into energy every second. How many tons of mass will be transformed into energy during the star's 10-billion-year lifetime. Hint: Find the number of seconds in 10 billion years.

Answer 1

Answer:

2.20752 x $10^{24}$

Step-by-step explanation:

The first thing you have to do is to look for the number of seconds in one year. You have to multiply 365 days by 86,400 seconds.

• 365 days refer to the total number of days per year
• 86,400 seconds refer to the number of seconds per day

Let's solve.

• 365 x 86,400 = 31,536,000 or 3.1536 x $10^{7}$

Therefore, one year has 3.1536 x $10^{7}$ seconds.

Next, you have to know the number of seconds in 10 billion years.

• (3.1536 x $10^{7}$) x  (1.0 x $10^{10}$) = 3.1536 x $10^{17}$

The last step is to multiply the number of seconds in 10 billion years to 7 million tons of mass per second.

• (3.1536 x $10^{17}$) x 7,000,000 = 2.20752 x $10^{24}$