Consider the 1-to10^19 scale on which the disk of the Milky Way Galaxy fits on a football field. On this scale, how far is it from the sun to the alpa centauri (real distance:4.4 light-years) How big is the sun itself on this scale? Compare the sun's size on this scale to the actual size of a typical atom (about 10^-10 m in diameter).
Answer:
Sun is \(0.4162708\) cm away from alpha century.
Sun is \(1.391016\times10^{-10}\)m.
Sun is 1.391016 time the size of an atom at this scale.
Step-by-step explanation:
Light year is a measure of distance. It is the distance light travels in an year.
Light year = \(9.4607\times10^{12}\) km
So 4.4 light years = \(4.4\times9.4607\times10^{12}\) km
\(41.62708\times10^{12}\) km
Lets scale this down to the level of \(1\times10^{-19}\)
\(41.62708\times10^{12}\times1\times10^{-19}\) km
=\(41.62708\times10^{-7}\) km
Change the units to centimeters:
\(41.62708\times10^{-7}\times1\times10^{5}\) cm
=\(41.62708\times10^{-2}\) cm
=\(0.4162708\) cm
Therefore on the new scale sun is \(0.4162708\) cm away from alpha century.
Diameter of the sun is 1.391016 million km
Lets change Sun's diameter to the new scale:
\(1.391016\times10^{6} \times10^{-19}\)km
=\(1.391016\times10^{-13}\)km
Lets change kilometers in to meters:
\(1.391016\times10^{-13}\times10^{3}\)m
=\(1.391016\times10^{-10}\)m
Therefore, sun is \(1.391016\times10^{-10}\)m
and an atom is \(1\times10^{-10}\)
Therefore the sun is 1.391016 time the size of an atom at this scale.