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Calculating the Distance to the Sun

Two young listeners ask how we calculate the distance to the sun. And, is it true that all the ants in the world weigh as much as all the people?

Two young listeners emailed the programme to ask how we calculate the distance to the sun. We decided to invite them and their parents to More or Less towers where Andrew Pontzen, an astrophysicist at University College London was on hand to explain the answer.

A BBC nature documentary stated that there are 14,000 ants to every person on earth, and that were we to weigh all of these ants they would weigh the same as all the people. Can this be true? Tim Harford and Hannah Moore investigate with the help of Francis Ratnieks, professor of apiculture at the University of Sussex.

(Photo: The Sun and the Earth. Credit: Shutterstock)

Available now

10 minutes

Last on

Mon 29 Sep 2014 08:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sun 28 Sep 2014 22:50GMT
  • Mon 29 Sep 2014 01:50GMT
  • Mon 29 Sep 2014 08:50GMT

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