{"id":88352,"date":"2025-06-01T07:08:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T07:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?p=88352"},"modified":"2025-06-01T07:08:35","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T07:08:35","slug":"how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun ?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun ?<\/p>\n

[amp_mcq option1=”About 4 minutes” option2=”About 8 minutes” option3=”About 24 minutes” option4=”About 24 hours” correct=”option2″]<\/p>\n

\n
\n
This question was previously asked in<\/div>\n
UPSC NDA-2 – 2017<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Download PDF<\/a>Attempt Online<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe average distance from the Earth to the Sun is approximately 149.6 million kilometers, or about 1.5 x 10^11 meters. The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 3 x 10^8 meters per second. The time taken for light to travel this distance can be calculated using the formula time = distance \/ speed.
\nTime \u2248 (1.5 x 10^11 m) \/ (3 x 10^8 m\/s) = 0.5 x 10^3 seconds = 500 seconds.
\nConverting seconds to minutes: 500 seconds \/ 60 seconds\/minute \u2248 8.33 minutes.
\nAmong the given options, “About 8 minutes” is the closest and most accurate approximation for the time light takes to travel from the Sun to the Earth.
\n<\/section>\n
\n– Distance from Sun to Earth is approximately 1.5 x 10^11 m.
\n– Speed of light is approximately 3 x 10^8 m\/s.
\n– Time = Distance \/ Speed.
\n<\/section>\n
\nThis travel time is often used to define the Astronomical Unit (AU), where 1 AU is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. Observing distant celestial objects means looking back in time, as the light we see was emitted minutes, years, or even billions of years ago, depending on the distance.
\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun ? [amp_mcq option1=”About 4 minutes” option2=”About 8 minutes” option3=”About 24 minutes” option4=”About 24 hours” correct=”option2″] This question was previously asked in UPSC NDA-2 – 2017 Download PDFAttempt Online The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is approximately 149.6 million kilometers, or … <\/p>\n

Detailed SolutionHow long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun ?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1094],"tags":[1101,1128,1435],"class_list":["post-88352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-upsc-nda-2","tag-1101","tag-physics","tag-space","no-featured-image-padding"],"yoast_head":"\nHow long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun ?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is approximately 149.6 million kilometers, or about 1.5 x 10^11 meters. The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 3 x 10^8 meters per second. The time taken for light to travel this distance can be calculated using the formula time = distance \/ speed. Time \u2248 (1.5 x 10^11 m) \/ (3 x 10^8 m\/s) = 0.5 x 10^3 seconds = 500 seconds. Converting seconds to minutes: 500 seconds \/ 60 seconds\/minute \u2248 8.33 minutes. Among the given options, "About 8 minutes" is the closest and most accurate approximation for the time light takes to travel from the Sun to the Earth. - Distance from Sun to Earth is approximately 1.5 x 10^11 m. - Speed of light is approximately 3 x 10^8 m\/s. - Time = Distance \/ Speed.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun ?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is approximately 149.6 million kilometers, or about 1.5 x 10^11 meters. The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 3 x 10^8 meters per second. The time taken for light to travel this distance can be calculated using the formula time = distance \/ speed. Time \u2248 (1.5 x 10^11 m) \/ (3 x 10^8 m\/s) = 0.5 x 10^3 seconds = 500 seconds. Converting seconds to minutes: 500 seconds \/ 60 seconds\/minute \u2248 8.33 minutes. Among the given options, "About 8 minutes" is the closest and most accurate approximation for the time light takes to travel from the Sun to the Earth. - Distance from Sun to Earth is approximately 1.5 x 10^11 m. - Speed of light is approximately 3 x 10^8 m\/s. - Time = Distance \/ Speed.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MCQ and Quiz for Exams\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-01T07:08:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"rawan239\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun ?","description":"The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is approximately 149.6 million kilometers, or about 1.5 x 10^11 meters. The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 3 x 10^8 meters per second. The time taken for light to travel this distance can be calculated using the formula time = distance \/ speed. Time \u2248 (1.5 x 10^11 m) \/ (3 x 10^8 m\/s) = 0.5 x 10^3 seconds = 500 seconds. Converting seconds to minutes: 500 seconds \/ 60 seconds\/minute \u2248 8.33 minutes. Among the given options, \"About 8 minutes\" is the closest and most accurate approximation for the time light takes to travel from the Sun to the Earth. - Distance from Sun to Earth is approximately 1.5 x 10^11 m. - Speed of light is approximately 3 x 10^8 m\/s. - Time = Distance \/ Speed.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun ?","og_description":"The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is approximately 149.6 million kilometers, or about 1.5 x 10^11 meters. The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 3 x 10^8 meters per second. The time taken for light to travel this distance can be calculated using the formula time = distance \/ speed. Time \u2248 (1.5 x 10^11 m) \/ (3 x 10^8 m\/s) = 0.5 x 10^3 seconds = 500 seconds. Converting seconds to minutes: 500 seconds \/ 60 seconds\/minute \u2248 8.33 minutes. Among the given options, \"About 8 minutes\" is the closest and most accurate approximation for the time light takes to travel from the Sun to the Earth. - Distance from Sun to Earth is approximately 1.5 x 10^11 m. - Speed of light is approximately 3 x 10^8 m\/s. - Time = Distance \/ Speed.","og_url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun\/","og_site_name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","article_published_time":"2025-06-01T07:08:35+00:00","author":"rawan239","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"rawan239","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun\/","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun\/","name":"How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun ?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-01T07:08:35+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-01T07:08:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209"},"description":"The average distance from the Earth to the Sun is approximately 149.6 million kilometers, or about 1.5 x 10^11 meters. The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 3 x 10^8 meters per second. The time taken for light to travel this distance can be calculated using the formula time = distance \/ speed. Time \u2248 (1.5 x 10^11 m) \/ (3 x 10^8 m\/s) = 0.5 x 10^3 seconds = 500 seconds. Converting seconds to minutes: 500 seconds \/ 60 seconds\/minute \u2248 8.33 minutes. Among the given options, \"About 8 minutes\" is the closest and most accurate approximation for the time light takes to travel from the Sun to the Earth. - Distance from Sun to Earth is approximately 1.5 x 10^11 m. - Speed of light is approximately 3 x 10^8 m\/s. - Time = Distance \/ Speed.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/how-long-does-light-take-to-reach-the-earth-from-the-sun\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"UPSC NDA-2","item":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/category\/upsc-nda-2\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How long does light take to reach the Earth from the Sun ?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#website","url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/","name":"MCQ and Quiz for Exams","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/5807dafeb27d2ec82344d6cbd6c3d209","name":"rawan239","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/761a7274f9cce048fa5b921221e7934820d74514df93ef195a9d22af0c1c9001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/761a7274f9cce048fa5b921221e7934820d74514df93ef195a9d22af0c1c9001?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"rawan239"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com"],"url":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/author\/rawan239\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88352\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/exam.pscnotes.com\/mcq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}