Ontario Grade 9 Science Class Practice Exam 2025 - Free Grade 9 Science Practice Questions and Study Guide

Question: 1 / 400

How far does light travel in a year?

The distance it takes to reach the moon

The distance from Earth to the Sun

The distance light travels in a year

The correct answer is the distance light travels in a year, which is referred to as a light-year. A light-year is a unit of distance that represents how far light travels in a vacuum in one year. Since light moves at a speed of about 299,792 kilometers per second (or roughly 186,282 miles per second), this distance becomes extraordinarily vast when calculated over a year. Specifically, light travels approximately 9.46 trillion kilometers in just one year.

Understanding this concept is essential, as light-years are frequently used in astronomy to express distances between stars and galaxies, helping us gauge the vast scales of the universe. The other options—such as the distance to the moon, the distance from Earth to the Sun, and the circumference of Earth—are specific measurements of distance rather than units of distance over time, which is what a light-year represents.

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The circumference of the Earth

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