Question

Consider a cloudless day on which the sun shines down across the United States. If 2559 kJ of energy reaches a square meter (m2) of the United States in one hour, how much total solar energy reaches the entire United States per hour? The entire area of the United States is 9,158,960 km2 .

Answer 1

In 1 hour, 2.344 × 10¹⁶ kJ of solar energy reaches the United States.

The entire area of the United States is 9,158,960 km². We will convert it to m² using the conversion factor 1 km = 10³ m, squared.

$9,158,960 km^{2} \times (\frac{10^{3} m }{1km} )^{2} = 9.158960 \times 10^{12}\ m^{2}$

In order to find the amount of solar energy that reaches 9.158960 × 10¹² m² we will use another conversion factor: 2559 kJ of energy reaches a square meter of the United States in one hour.

$9.158960 \times 10^{12}\ m^{2} \times \frac{2559 kJ}{m^{2}.h } = 2.344 \times 10^{16} kJ/h$

In 1 hour, 2.344 × 10¹⁶ kJ of solar energy reaches the United States.

You can learn more about unit conversions here: https://brainly.com/question/19420601