Quantcast

Jump to content


Photo

The speed of light!


  • Please log in to reply
6 replies to this topic

#1 ToriAndNate

ToriAndNate
  • 23 posts

Posted 11 March 2017 - 10:58 AM

The speed of light is truly an amazing, (that's an understatement!) thing. 
 
Over the last hour or so, I've been having some fun with mathematical expressions dealing with the speed of light, and how far it travels in a second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year, decade, century, and in a millennium - both in miles, and in feet - written out in both scientific notation, and standard notation, to make it easier to visualize/understand!
 
So, without further ado, here is my work of art! I hope you like :D:
 
Speed of light measured in Miles per (X)
 
First, we figure out the speed of light in Miles/Second; which is 186,000 Miles/Second.
 
Next, we multiply this by 60 seconds, to get the distance traveled in a minute, and so on.
 
-
 
186,000 Miles/Second x 60 Seconds = 11,160,000 Miles/Minute
 
11,160,000 Miles/Minute x 60 Minutes = 669,600,000 Miles/Hour
 
669,600,000 Miles/Hour x 24 Hours = 16,070,400,000 Miles/Day
 
16,070,400,000 Miles/Day x 7 Days = 112,492,800,000 Miles/Week
 
112,492,800,000 Miles/Week x 4 Weeks = 449,971,200,000 Miles/Month
 
449,971,200,000 Miles/Month x 12 Months = 5.399.6544e+12 Miles/Year 
([I]5,399,654,400,000 Trillion Miles[/I])
 
5.399.6544e+12 Miles/Year x 10 Years = 5.3996544e+13 Miles/Decade
([I]53,996,540,000,000 Trillion Miles[/I])
 
5.3996544e+13 Miles/Decade x 10 Decades = 5.3996544e+14 Miles/Century
([I]539,965,400,000,000 Trillion Miles[/I])
 
5.3996544e+14 Miles/Century x 10 Centuries = 5.3996544e+15 Miles/Millennium
([I]5,399,654,000,000,000 Quadrillion Miles[/I])
 
Speed of light measured in Feet per (X)
 
First, we figure out how many feet are in a mile, which is 5,280 (~5,000) feet.
 
Next, we multiply the speed of light in Miles/Second, 186,000, by 5,000 feet.
 
Finally, we multiply that result by 60 seconds, to get the distance traveled in a minute, and so on.
[B]
-
 
[/B]186,000 Miles/Second x 5,000 Feet = 930,000,000 Feet/Second
 
930,000,000 Feet/Second x 60 Seconds = 55,800,000,000 Feet/Minute
 
55,800,000,000 Feet/Minute x 60 Minutes = 3.348e+12 Feet/Hour
([I]3,348,000,000,000 Trillion Feet[/I])
 
3.348e+12 Feet/Hour x 24 Hours = 8.0352e+13 Feet/Day
([I]80,352,000,000,000 Trillion Feet[/I])
 
8.0352e+13 Feet/Day x 7 Days = 5.62464e+14 Feet/Week
([I]562,464,000,000,000 Trillion Feet[/I])
 
5.62464e+14 Feet/Week x 4 Weeks = 2.249856e+15 Feet/Month
([I]2,249856,000,000,000 Quadrillion Feet[/I])
 
2.249856e+15 Feet/Month x 12 Months = 2.6998272e+16 Feet/Year
([I]26,998,272,000,000,000 Quadrillion Feet[/I])
 
2.6998272e+16 Feet/Year x 10 Years = 2.6998272e+17 Feet/Decade
([I]269,982,720,000,000,000 Quadrillion Feet[/I])
 
2.6998272e+17 Feet/Decade x 10 Decades = 2.6998272e+18 Feet/Century
([I]2,699,827,200,000,000,000 Quintillion Feet[/I])
 
2.6998272e+18 Feet/Century x 10 Centuries = 2.6998272e+19 Feet/Millennium
([I]26,998,272,000,000,000,000 Quintillion Feet[/I]
 
Now, if you want to figure out the distance light has traveled since the beginning of the Big Bang, all you have to do is multiply the result of the distance light travels in a year (In miles or feet, your choice) by the age of the universe (approximately 13 Billion years) I'm not going to do that for you though, I'll let you try it on your own!


#2 WarezHaxor

WarezHaxor
  • 668 posts


Users Awards

Posted 11 March 2017 - 11:35 AM

I'm happy to see there's someone who has as much fun with numbers as I do haha. Back in college I took theoretical physics and the speed of light was something I had a lot of fun with. Understanding einsteins theory of relativity(e=mc^2) as a kid seemed impossible, but my professor explained it really well. Basically, e being energy, m being mass, and c being the speed you were trying to reach, he was able to demonstrate how no matter how much energy you could give even the smallest particle known to man by mass that to reach the speed of light would require an infinite amount of force or energy due to the fact that as you speed a particle up, it's mass grows infinitely as well, it's a theory called special relativity and assumes no other outside force acts upon that particle as you attempt to accelerate it to the speed of light. I never understood as a child why that was until I actually saw it on paper with a better grasp of physics. Thus why travelling to other planets in the universe would be impossible without figuring out cryogenic freezing and thawing of a subject with no harm to their systems.

#3 ToriAndNate

ToriAndNate
  • 23 posts

Posted 11 March 2017 - 11:39 AM

I'm happy to see there's someone who has as much fun with numbers as I do haha. Back in college I took theoretical physics and the speed of light was something I had a lot of fun with. Understanding einsteins theory of relativity(e=mc^2) as a kid seemed impossible, but my professor explained it really well. Basically, e being energy, m being mass, and c being the speed you were trying to reach, he was able to demonstrate how no matter how much energy you could give even the smallest particle known to man by mass that to reach the speed of light would require an infinite amount of force or energy due to the fact that as you speed a particle up, it's mass grows infinitely as well, it's a theory called special relativity and assumes no other outside force acts upon that particle as you attempt to accelerate it to the speed of light. I never understood as a child why that was until I actually saw it on paper with a better grasp of physics. Thus why travelling to other planets in the universe would be impossible without figuring out cryogenic freezing and thawing of a subject with no harm to their systems.

 

I have a feeling you and I would have some interesting conversations :D I've been studying special relativity among many other things the past couple weeks, and I am having so much fun with it. Like you said, when I was younger this stuff seemed impossible, especially Einstein's famous equation. But when you take an interest in it and really like it, it becomes 'easy' for lack of a better term! Stephen Hawking is another brilliant mind that talks about this subject in some of his lectures. If you are interested you can read a few of them listed below;

 

Edit: Forgot links lol

 

http://www.hawking.o...ng-of-time.html

http://www.hawking.o...e-universe.html

http://www.hawking.o...time-warps.html


Edited by ToriAndNate, 11 March 2017 - 11:41 AM.


#4 WarezHaxor

WarezHaxor
  • 668 posts


Users Awards

Posted 12 March 2017 - 09:57 AM

Great articles! Stephen hawking is someone i would love to sit down and have a conversation with but I fear it would end up being a conversation that lasted days hahaha. My physics and chem professors in college had the best ways of making the classes enjoyable...first day of chem he demonstrated mini hydrogen bombs by filling balloons up with hydrogen gas and blowing them up. And my physics teacher taught free fall acceleration by describing how cats in NYC and other big cities with skyscrapers stood a better chance of survival from falling off window sills from the 10th story and up because when they hit their free fall acceleration the extra belly skin acts like a parachute and stabilizes the fall and slows them down to a speed where minimal damage occurs.

#5 Kaddict

Kaddict
  • 1767 posts


Users Awards

Posted 12 March 2017 - 02:55 PM

I know I am a dick for saying this, but your number formatting is incorrect. Rather than:
 

3,348,000,000,000 Trillion Feet

 

it would be more accurate to say

 

3.348 Trillion Feet or 3,348,000,000,000 Feet (Trillion) (for the commaphobes)

 

That having been said, I love relativity. 



#6 ToriAndNate

ToriAndNate
  • 23 posts

Posted 12 March 2017 - 04:25 PM

I know I didn't write that part out 'correctly' I did that so people who don't know of really large number names could see the names of them.



#7 Trapezeo

Trapezeo
  • 746 posts


Users Awards

Posted 13 March 2017 - 04:49 AM

This is actually pretty cool. I love things like these! Congrats on putting it together :D


0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users