The space shuttle travels at about 28,000 km per hour. Using that information, estimate how many hours it will take the shuttle to reach Saturn from Earth. Show your work. Convert your answer into scientific notation if necessary.
( Saturn btw is 1,433,449,370 km and Earth is 149,600,000 km )

Question

The space shuttle travels at about 28,000 km per hour. Using that information, estimate how many hours it will take the shuttle to reach Saturn from Earth. Show your work. Convert your answer into scientific notation if necessary. 
( Saturn btw is 1,433,449,370 km and Earth is 149,600,000 km )

volleyballlover55 · Answer

@surjithayer

anonymous · Answer

you are writing two figures ,explain it.

volleyballlover55 · Answer

what do you mean.. no we are trying to see how many hours it takes to get from The Earth to Saturn 28,00 mph

anonymous · Answer

divide distance by 28,000
it gives you time.
$$time=\frac{ distance  }{ speed }$$

volleyballlover55 · Answer

what time?

mrnood · Answer

A body in orbit needs to reach 'escape velocity' before it can leave the effect of earth's gravity.

Escape velocity for Earth is around 42000 km/hr - so the shuttle can NEVER leave earths orbit

About time maths and science teachers set some science based questions...

volleyballlover55 · Answer

ok so can we figure out how many hours it will take to get to saturn @MrNood

mrnood · Answer

Yeah - if you are prepared to ignore the glaring inconsistency and lack of rigour in the question

volleyballlover55 · Answer

i calculated it and i got 42,857 hours

volleyballlover55 · Answer

am i right?

mrnood · Answer

No - but you are not far off - so you must be using the right approach

The assumption is that the 2 figures given are the radius of the 2 planet's orbits, so you need to work out the minimum distance between them


subtract the earth orbit from the Saturn orbit

THEN divide by the speed

volleyballlover55 · Answer

ok let me try

volleyballlover55 · Answer

when i subtracted i got 1,283,849,370 . is that right?

mrnood · Answer

1283849370

yes

volleyballlover55 · Answer

ok now i divide by 28,000

volleyballlover55 · Answer

45, 851 hours!?

mrnood · Answer

yes

BUt another stupid thing abou t htis question is it assumes the craft travels in a straight line between the planets at their closest approach . ALL rocket trajectories are curved and are MUCH longer than the straight line route

volleyballlover55 · Answer

ok :)

volleyballlover55 · Answer

what was the first step to solving this question? im trying to write a complete sentence :)
@MrNood

volleyballlover55 · Answer

are you there?

volleyballlover55 · Answer

can you please tell me what the steps were to solving the problem please  :)

mrnood · Answer

a) work out the distance
b) divide by the speed

volleyballlover55 · Answer

can you show the work you did also for each step please.. in words though

mrnood · Answer

NO

You did the calculations yourself - so you can put it into words

it's not rocket science!

volleyballlover55 · Answer

ok