SPEED OF LIGHT

Module 17
Reporter: Yu, John Laurence V.
What Is the Speed of Light?

• Somewhere in outer space, billions of light years from

Earth, the original light associated with the Big Bang of
the universe is blazing new ground as it continues moving
outward. In stark contrast, another form of
electromagnetic radiation originating on the Earth, radio
waves from the inaugural live episode of The Lucy Show
are broadcasting a premier somewhere in deep space,
although greatly reduced in amplitude.
Addition
• The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted c, is a
universal physical constant that is exactly equal to
299,792,458 metres per second (approximately 300,000
kilometres per second; 186,000 miles per second;
671 million miles per hour).[Note 3] According to the
special theory of relativity, c is the upper limit for the
speed at which conventional matter or energy (and thus
any signal carrying information) can travel through space.
How Fast Is the Speed of Light

• The speed of light, which scientists have thoroughly

examined, is now expressed as a constant value denoted
in equations by the symbol c. Not truly a constant, but
rather the maximum speed in a vacuum, the speed of light
in km, which is almost 300,000 kilometers per second,
can be manipulated by changing media or with quantum
interference.
• Light traveling in a uniform substance, or medium,
propagates in a straight line at a relatively constant speed,
unless it is refracted, reflected, diffracted, or perturbed in
some other manner.
How Fast Is the Speed of Light in Air and Water?

• When light traveling through the air enters a different

medium, such as glass or water, the speed and wavelength
of light are reduced (see Figure 2),
• although the frequency remains unaltered. Light travels at
approximately 300,000 kilometers per second in a vacuum,
which has a refractive index of 1.0, but it slows down to
225,000 kilometers per second in water (refractive index of
1.3; see Figure 2) and 200,000 kilometers per second in
glass (refractive index of 1.5). In diamond, with a rather high
refractive index of 2.4, the speed of light is reduced to a
relative crawl (125,000 kilometers per second), being about
60 percent less than its maximum speed in a vacuum.
•
Figure 2
For more information about the speed of light
watch the video below.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miypRsKhf_8&ab_cha
nnel=MyAstronomyChannel

The speed of light explained in 3 minutes.mp4