science
You are somewhere in the middle of the country and a satellite that is a short distance above San Francisco sends out a pulse that your GPS receiver tells you took 0.002 seconds to reach you. Since you know that the radio signal travels at the speed of light, how far does this mean you are from San Francisco (neglect the distance between San Francisco and the satellite)? Explain your response.
Reply
Answers
The distance from you to San Francisco can be calculated by multiplying the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s) by the amount of time it took for the signal to reach you (0.002 s). This yields an answer of approximately 599,584.9 m, or about 0.37 miles away from San Francisco.
