Is 500 seconds bigger than 8 minutes

Well, lets start out small.
If there are 60 seconds in 1 minute... then just multiply 60 by the totaly number of minutes to get how many seconds you need.
S 
60(minutes)=total number of seconds
Therefore, 60(8)=480
Now, just see which number is greater...
480<500

So, in 8 minutes there are 480 seconds. Meaning, 500 seconds IS ,yes indeed, greater than 8 minutes.

-Hope this helped :)