Question

A:Make a list of the distances from each planet to the sun, written in scientific notation. If there is a shortest and longest distance, use the average distance from the sun.

Subtract the shortest distance from the longest distance. Show your work.

Answer 1

Here is a list of the distances from each planet to the sun, written in scientific notation:

Mercury: 57.91 x 10^6 km
Venus: 108.2 x 10^6 km
Earth: 149.6 x 10^6 km
Mars: 227.9 x 10^6 km
Jupiter: 778.5 x 10^6 km
Saturn: 1.43 x 10^9 km
Uranus: 2.88 x 10^9 km
Neptune: 4.5 x 10^9 km

To find the shortest and longest distance, we compare the given values.
Shortest distance: Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, so its distance is the shortest at 57.91 x 10^6 km.
Longest distance: Neptune is the farthest planet from the sun, so its distance is the longest at 4.5 x 10^9 km.

To find the average distance from the sun, we add up the distances of all the planets and divide by the total number of planets.
Average distance = (57.91 + 108.2 + 149.6 + 227.9 + 778.5 + 1.43 + 2.88 + 4.5) x 10^6 / 8 = 620.0475 x 10^6 km = 6.200475 x 10^8 km

Now, let's subtract the shortest distance from the longest distance:

Longest distance - Shortest distance = (4.5 x 10^9 km) - (57.91 x 10^6 km) = 4.44209 x 10^9 km

Thus, the difference between the shortest and longest distance from the sun is approximately 4.44209 x 10^9 km.