Answer to Question #294170 in Optics for Chemistry

Question

Light requires about 8 minutes to travel from the sun to the earth. Is it delayed appreciably by the earth’s atmosphere? Explain

Answer 1

The distance from the Earth to the Sun is roughly 93 million miles. 93 million divided by 670 million is around 0.13 hours, or just over 8 minutes. It's not a mystery, that's just how long it takes light to get here over such a huge distance. It is not delayed very much by the Earth's atmosphere.