The equation for an ellipse with a horizontal major axis is x²/a² +y²/b² =1 . the orbit for mercury can be plotted on the coordinate plane with the center at the origin and the sun located at one focus. use this information and the mercury’s calculated mean distance from the sun to find the value of a. express your answer in millions of miles

Nthe opening scene of the movie raiders of the lost ark, indiana jones replaces a golden statue with a bag of sand. the platform on which the statue is placed is designed to detect the mass of the statue. if the bag of sand has a different mass than the statue, then a mechanism triggers and destruction ensues. the density of gold is about 20\text{ g/cm}^320 g/cm 3 20, space, g, slash, c, m, start superscript, 3, end superscript. the density of sand can be estimated at 2.5\text{ g/cm}^32.5 g/cm 3 2, point, 5, space, g, slash, c, m, start superscript, 3, end superscript. the gold statue can be modeled as a cylinder with height 25\text{ cm}25 cm25, space, c, m and radius 8\text{ cm}8 cm8, space, c, m. in terms of \piπpi, what is the mass of sand indiana jones needs to avoid triggering the mechanism?