03.30.2020 - Monday -
Hi class. Last Monday you were asked to calculate how long it would take for a radio signal to go between Earth and Mars when they are at both their closest and their furthest in their orbits. Remember from way back when we watched "The Martian," Matt Damon's character, " Mark Watney was communication with Earth and his ship, The Hermes. We mentioned how they would have to edit out the time delay in the communication because it's not almost instantaneous like it seems here on Earth when we're talking on the phone with a friend.
This lesson is not only meant to be a math connection in science but, as we'll dive into more deeply this week, radio waves are just another type of light in the electromagnetic spectrum. Plants use only certain colors of light to perform PHOTOSYNTHESIS. Light travels a CONSTANT speed (186,000 miles per second or 300,000 km per second.) It's amazing that, even at 300,000 kilometers per second, it would still take more than twenty minutes for a radio signal to reach Mars from Earth during certain times in our orbit. Your job ... calculate how long it would take the radio signal to travel when we are at our CLOSEST with Mars. (About 55 million kilometers - see Monday's notes.)
(Place the following in in your notes)
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