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t. e. 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).
Since 1983 the metre has been defined as the distance traveled by light in vacuum in 1 ⁄ 299,792,458 second. [7] This means that the speed of light can no longer be experimentally measured in SI units, but the length of a meter can be compared experimentally against some other standard of length.
The Planck time t P is the time required for light to travel a distance of 1 Planck length in vacuum, which is a time interval of approximately 5.39 × 10 −44 s. No current physical theory can describe timescales shorter than the Planck time, such as the earliest events after the Big Bang. [ 27 ]
The speed of light in vacuum is defined to be exactly 299 792 458 m/s (approx. 186,282 miles per second). The fixed value of the speed of light in SI units results from the fact that the metre is now defined in terms of the speed of light. All forms of electromagnetic radiation move at exactly this same speed in vacuum. Different physicists ...
In 1983, the meter was, indirectly, defined in terms of the caesium standard with the formal definition "The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second. This implied: 1 metre, m, = c s / 299,792,458 = 9,192,631,770 / 299,792,458 c Δt Cs = 9,192,631,770 / ...
In the context of this article, "faster-than-light" means the transmission of information or matter faster than c, a constant equal to the speed of light in vacuum, which is 299,792,458 m/s (by definition of the metre) [3] or about 186,282.397 miles per second. This is not quite the same as traveling faster than light, since:
By timing the eclipses of Jupiter's moon Io, Rømer estimated that light would take about 22 minutes to travel a distance equal to the diameter of Earth's orbit around the Sun. [1] Using modern orbits, this would imply a speed of light of 226,663 kilometres per second, [2] 24.4% lower than the true value of 299,792 km/s. [3]
The absolute refractive index n of an optical medium is defined as the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum, c = 299 792 458 m/s, and the phase velocity v of light in the medium, =. Since c is constant, n is inversely proportional to v : n ∝ 1 v . {\displaystyle n\propto {\frac {1}{v}}.}