Have you ever heard someone say that the moon is 1.3 light-seconds away or that the sun is 8 light-minutes away? It might sound strange to measure distances using time, but we actually do this all the time in our daily lives!
Think about it: when you want to know how far it is from your house to the store, you might say it’s about ten minutes away. From New York to Boston? That’s around four hours. And Los Angeles to Sydney? About 14 hours. What we’re really saying is that the store is ten bike-minutes from your house, New York is four car-hours from Boston, and Sydney is 14 plane-hours from LA.
This way of measuring is so common that I only know the distance from LA to Sydney in plane-hours, not in miles or kilometers. But if I wanted to, I could calculate it by multiplying 14 plane-hours by the plane’s speed of 550 miles per hour, which would give me roughly 7,500 miles.
Interestingly, Sydney is also five sailboat-weeks from LA, seven humpback-whale months from LA, five message-in-a-bottle years from LA, and 0.04 light-seconds from LA. On the other hand, the moon is 18 airplane-days away, six car-months away, and 15 whale-years away. This means a whale might swim as far as the distance to the moon over its lifetime!
If that sounds crazy, sometimes we even measure time using distance. For example, how long is a movie? It could be 8,000 feet of film! And a MinutePhysics video? About 30 meters.
So, next time you hear someone using time to describe distance, remember that it’s a practical and common way to think about how far things are. It’s all about the speed of travel and how we experience distance in our everyday lives!
Imagine you are planning a trip from your home to various destinations. Use a map to plot these locations and calculate the travel time using different modes of transportation (e.g., walking, biking, driving). Present your findings on a poster, showing the distances in both time and miles/kilometers.
Work in pairs to convert given distances from time-based measurements to traditional distance units. For example, convert 3 car-hours to miles, assuming an average speed of 60 mph. Create a quiz for your classmates using these conversions.
Conduct an experiment to measure how far you can travel in a set amount of time using different methods (e.g., walking, running, biking). Record your speeds and calculate the distances covered. Share your results with the class and discuss the differences in speed and distance.
Write a short story that incorporates time-based distance measurements. For example, describe a journey where characters travel “three bike-minutes” or “two whale-years.” Share your story with the class and discuss how using time as a measure of distance adds to the narrative.
Create a timeline that shows significant historical events and their distances from your location in time-based measurements. For example, how many “car-hours” away is the signing of the Declaration of Independence? Present your timeline to the class and explain your calculations.
Distance – The amount of space between two points, usually measured in units like meters or kilometers. – The distance between the two cities is 150 kilometers.
Time – A measure of the duration of events and the intervals between them, often measured in seconds, minutes, or hours. – It took 3 hours to complete the physics experiment.
Measure – To determine the size, amount, or degree of something using a standard unit. – We used a ruler to measure the length of the metal rod in the lab.
Speed – The rate at which an object covers distance, calculated as distance divided by time. – The car traveled at a speed of 60 miles per hour.
Calculate – To determine a value or number using mathematical processes. – We need to calculate the speed of the object using the formula speed equals distance divided by time.
Moon – The natural satellite of Earth, which orbits the planet and affects tides. – The moon takes about 27.3 days to complete one orbit around Earth.
Sun – The star at the center of our solar system, which provides light and heat to Earth. – The sun is approximately 93 million miles away from Earth.
Hours – Units of time equal to 60 minutes each, used to measure durations. – The science class lasted for two hours today.
Miles – Units of distance commonly used in the United States, equal to 1,609.34 meters. – The marathon race covered a distance of 26.2 miles.
Kilometers – Units of distance in the metric system, equal to 1,000 meters. – The hiking trail is 10 kilometers long.
