If Earth was 10 times farther away from the sun than it is now, which planet would it be closest to? (Assume all the planets are aligned with the sun and are on the same side of the sun.) Compare Earth's new distance to that planet. How far apart would they be in standard notation? How far apart in scientific notation and in km? Show your work.

1 answer

If Earth was 10 times farther away from the sun, it would be closest to Mars.

Currently, the average distance between Earth and the sun is approximately 149.6 million kilometers. If Earth was 10 times farther away, the new distance would be 10 * 149.6 million km = 1.496 billion kilometers.

The average distance between Mars and the sun is around 227.9 million kilometers. Therefore, the distance between Earth and Mars would be 1.496 billion km - 227.9 million km = 1.2681 billion kilometers.

In standard notation, the distance between Earth and Mars would be 1,268,100,000 kilometers.

In scientific notation, the distance between Earth and Mars would be 1.2681 x 10^9 kilometers.

Therefore, Earth and Mars would be approximately 1.2681 billion kilometers apart.