About how many times larger is the diameter of the Milky Way Galaxy than the diameter of Saturn’s rings? (Data: Saturn’s rings are about 270,000 km in diameter;

Question

About how many times larger is the diameter of the Milky Way Galaxy than the diameter of Saturn’s rings? (Data: Saturn’s rings are about 270,000 km in diameter; the Milky Way is 100,000 light-years in diameter.)

Answer 1

Josh,

This is an example of unit conversion problem, whereby you alternate the units of numerators and denominators to convert from one unit of measurement to another.  This is more easily done when you convert the values into scientific notation.

 

The S.I. measurement for a lightyear is 9.461×10¹⁵m.

 

Now, using the numerator-denominator method of conversion and scientific notation:

1.0x10⁵ly × 9.461×10¹⁵m ×    1km      = 9.461x10¹⁷km

                       1ly                 1.0x10³m

 

 

Dividing:

9.461x10¹⁷km = 3.5x10¹² times larger

2.7x10⁵km

 

Note that with scientific notation, the number of significant figures is the least amount of significant figures of all given values, with in this case, because of 2.7x10⁵, is 2.  Thus the answer is rounded to 3.5x10¹².

 

Please let me know if you need me to clarify any of these concepts further.

Answer 2

Dear Josh,

 

(100,000 light years)*(9,454,254,955,500,000 meters/light year) = 

(10⁵ light years)*(9.454254955 x 10¹² meters/light year) = 9.454254955 x 10¹⁷ meters

or 9.454254955 x 10¹⁴ kilometers

 

Ratio = Milky Way            = 9.454254955 x 10¹⁴ kilometers          = 3.50158 x 10⁹

           _________               __________________________

           Saturn's Rings           2.7 x 10⁵ kilometers

Answer 3

(9.4605284(10^15) m / light-year) (100,000 light-years) = 9.4605284(10^20) m

 

9.4605284(10^20) m / 270,000,000 m = (9.4605284/2.7)(10^12)

 

= 3,503,899,407,407

 

about 3.5 trillion times

Answer 4

I'm no astronomer, but this is basically a math question. Here are the steps you should take to get the answer.

1) Find out how many kilometers are in a light year (hint: a lot)

2) Multiple the number of light years in a km by 100,000 (diameter of the Milky Way)

3) Divide the number you get from line 2 by 270,000 km (diameter of Saturn's rings).

That's your answer. It will be big.

 

formula: 

(100,000 light yrs x number of kilometers in a light year)/270,000 kilometers