How long does it take for light to travel from the earth to mars?

Answer 1

There are very specific dates during which the orbits of Earth and Mars bring the two planets closer together. This is called "opposition". On Aug. 27 2007, Mars was 34.65 million miles (55.76 million kilometers) away. The previous opposition occurred in 2001 (41 million miles). Scientists calculate the that closest opposition will occur in 2729, when Mars will be about 34,580,000 miles (55,651,000 kilometers) from Earth.

Answer 2

"Travelling at the speed of light, it would take you four minutes to get to mars from earth. There must be a sum out there somewhere that would help you convert this time into a distance."

If it takes 10 months to reach Mars then it takes:

0.066667 light hours

0.00027778 light days, and taking days in a year to be 365.25 (.25 for the leap year):

So there are 0.00000076051 light years between Mars and the Earth (assuming it takes 4 minutes for light to travel from one to the other).

That's not accurate enough for me though because we don'tremain side-by-side in our orbits so the distance between Mars and the Earth will vary. They are also on eliptical orbits so even if they were travelling around the Sun at the same angular rate they would still be varying distances apart.

So, to answer your question I need to reword it:

"What is the difference in distance from the Sun between Mars and Earth in light years?"

Which considers the orbital paths instead, though as I said there will still be variation so I'll give you the range of difference in our orbits (which should give an idea of minimum distance).

Mars is lies between 205,000,000km and 249,000,000km from the Sun, and Earth lies between 146,000,000km and 152,000,000km from the Sun. I will have to assume that the eliptical orbits have their max lengths aligned along the same plane.

Therefore the minimum distance between Mars' and Earth's orbits is:

205,000,000 - 146,000,000 = 59,000,000km

And the maximum distance is:

249,000,000 - 152,000,000 = 97,000,000km

So the possible distances, in light years, between Mars' and Earth's orbital paths are:

Minimum: 0.00000062363 light years

Maximum: 0.00000102529 light years

(which is between 3:17 minutes and 5:24 minutes time for light to travel between - so the quoted answer above wouldn't be too far wrong; if it was talking about orbital paths!)

Improved Answer: The second response is correct except for an error in the math for the maximum distance. The responder subtracts instead of adds. If you add them then the max distance is about 400,000,000 km resulting in roughly 20 light minutes.

Answer 3

Mars is about 12 light-MINUTES from the Sun. The orbit of Mars is more eccentric than Earth's, so sometimes it is somewhat closer and sometimes farther away, but never more that about 13 light-MINUTES from the Sun.

Answer 4

Both are the same physical and electrical phenomenon, called electromagnetic radiation.
Neither requires a physical medium in which to propagate.
Both propagate at the same speed.
Both can be reflected and refracted at a discontinuity between media with different refractive indexes.
Both can be absorbed by atmospheric gases, fog, rain, etc.
Both can display constructive and destructive interference between coherent sources.
Intensity of both decreases with the square of the distance from the source.

Answer 5

They travel at the speed of light. Radio waves are a form of light, but a much lower frequency than we can see with our eyes.

Also Einstiens theory states that nothing can travel the speed of light however all waves travel the same speed making radio waves travel the speed of light.

Hope this helps from scottadroid :D

Answer 6

That depends on the distance - the distance from Earth to Mars can vary quite a bit, depending on where each planet is in its orbit. You can look up the details in the Wikipedia article on Mars - but it's usually somewhere between about 54 million kilometers, and 400 million kilometers. Once you decide on a distance, divide that by the speed, to get the time.

Answer 7

Roughly speaking, Mars is about 4.15 light minutes from Earth at it's minimum, and about 20.8 light minutes from Earth maximum. 12.5 light minutes would be a good working figure.

So about 12.5 minutes for light to get from Earth to Mars.

(I credit the above to Professor James Gort, a volunteer with AllExperts.)

Answer 8

A radio wave is an electromagnetic phenomenon and does not have a temperature, similar to how a sound or flash of light neither have a temperature. Radio waves can induce heat in a massive substance, however, depending on its characteristics, e.g. its frequency.

For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_frequency_heating

Answer 9

Light , X-rays and Radio signals are electromagnetic waves. The speed of electromagnetic waves in vacuum, is 300000km/sec (approximately).

In order to calculate the time of travel with this speed from Earth to Mars, we need to know the distance.

When the Mars and the Earth are at the opposite sides of the Sun, the distance is the largest: approximately: 378 million km. The time needed for an electromagnetic wave to cover this distance is approximately: 21 minute.

The closest distance between Mars and Earth is 78 million km, the time in this case is: 4.3 min.

So the time of travel between Earth and Mars is between 4.3 minutes and 21 minutes, depending on the actual distance between the two planets.

Technically speaking, at the furthest distance the radio signal or "space ship" would have to travel through the sun. It is not practical to think that a signal would be strong enough or a spaceship resilient enough to do this. So, you would need to wait until the two planets had a line of sight not effected by the sun, its radio-magnetic interference or its gravitational pull.

Answer 10

Distance to the moon = 238,000 miles (rounded)

Speed of light, heat, x-rays, and radio: 186,282 miles per second.

Time to make the crossing: (238,000/186,282) = 1.28 seconds (rounded)