Monday, January 7, 2008

Physics Factoid: The Speed of Light

I've realized that I'm not always going to have time for a full post. And perhaps some of you would like things in small bites. So I will sometimes publish short posts called factoids. This one is on the speed of light.

The constant c in Einstein's famous equation E=mc2, is the speed of light.  c is 186,282 mi/sec, or 299,792 km/sec.  That means light could go around the equator of the Earth (in some conduit) about 7 times in a second.  On the other hand, the sun is so far away, 93 million miles, that it takes light more than 8 minutes to get here from there.


[confidence level: established, my qualifications: trained]

No comments: