2007-10-05 23:13:59 · 22 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
He asked "How fast is the speed light?" not "How fast is light".
READ THE QUESTION as my dear old physics teacher used to say.
And no, I don't know what a speed light is either.
2007-10-07 12:20:25 · answer #1 · answered by monsewer icks 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As you can see from the other answers the speed of light is usually given to be about 3.00 X 10^8 m/s in a vacuum. But a true vacuum is rare. Even outer space, though very close is not a complete vacuum. Light travels at slower speeds in different materials and is refracted, or changes at direction to a different degree, when it enters one material from another, but amazingly goes back to the original angle when it leaves it. An example of this refraction is looking at fish in water. If you were to try to spear the fish where it appears to be in front of you it will always result in a miss. An example of the other is glass. Light enters at one angle, changes in the glass and then reverts back to the original upon leaving the glass so we perceive no change.
2007-10-06 06:43:08 · answer #2 · answered by Major Bob 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not sure but it travels 300,000 metres per second can travel round the world seven times in one second.
edit - "The speed of light in a vacuum is fixed by definition to be exactly 299,792,458 (m/s). "
2007-10-06 06:23:30 · answer #3 · answered by Iron Man 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Duno but it goes round the world 7 times asecond
2007-10-06 07:35:44 · answer #4 · answered by Edward C 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
1 x 10^8 m/s
2007-10-06 06:16:13 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
The SI standard is 299,792,458 metres per second.
But this also equals
670,616,629.2 miles per hour
983,571,056 feet per second
186,282.397 miles per second
one foot per nanosecond.
Or to put it in a better perspective for you... think of somewhere that's about 46miles away from you... light would travel to AND from that place 4000 times every second.
2007-10-06 06:20:34 · answer #6 · answered by Rob K 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
3 x 10^8 m/s in a vacuum and air.....slower in other mediums like glass, depending on the refractive index.
2007-10-06 11:37:57 · answer #7 · answered by lizard_magic 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
186.000 miles per second. It is a physical constant and is the basis for many calculations in the physical world.
2007-10-06 06:40:28 · answer #8 · answered by organbuilder272 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
299,792,458 metres per second, apparently. Better question is, how in the hell do they measure the speed of light?
2007-10-06 06:16:36 · answer #9 · answered by bruvvamoff 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Roughly 186,000 miles per second.
2007-10-06 06:17:19 · answer #10 · answered by Mike L 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋