Speed of Light Calculator

With this speed of light calculator, we aim to help you calculate the distance light can travel in a fixed time. As the speed of light is the fastest speed in the universe, it would be fascinating to know just how far it can travel in a short amount of time.

We have written this article to help you understand what the speed of light is, how fast the speed of light is, and how to calculate the speed of light. We will also demonstrate some examples to help you understand the computation of the speed of light.

The speed of light is scientifically proven to be the universe's maximum speed. This means no matter how hard you try, you can never exceed this speed in this universe. Hence, there are also some theories on getting into another universe by breaking this limit. You can understand this more using our speed calculator and distance calculator.

So, how fast is the speed of light? The speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s in a vacuum. The speed of light in mph is 670,616,629 mph. With this speed, one can go around the globe more than 400,000 times in a minute!

One thing to note is that the speed of light slows down when it goes through different mediums. Light travels faster in air than in water, for instance. This phenomenon causes the refraction of light.

Now, let's look at how to calculate the speed of light.

As the speed of light is constant, calculating the speed of light usually falls on calculating the distance that light can travel in a certain time period. Hence, let's have a look at the following example:

• Source: Light
• Speed of light: 299,792,458 m/s
• Time traveled: 100 seconds

You can perform the calculation in three steps:

1. Determine the speed of light.

   As mentioned, the speed of light is the fastest speed in the universe, and it is always a constant in a vacuum. Hence, the speed of light is 299,792,458 m/s.

2. Determine the time that the light has traveled.

   The next step is to know how much time the light has traveled. Unlike looking at the speed of a sports car or a train, the speed of light is extremely fast, so the time interval that we look at is usually measured in seconds instead of minutes and hours. You can use our time lapse calculator to help you with this calculation.

   For this example, the time that the light has traveled is 100 seconds.

3. Calculate the distance that the light has traveled.

   The final step is to calculate the total distance that the light has traveled within the time. You can calculate this answer using the speed of light formula:

   distance = speed of light × time

   Thus, the distance that the light can travel in 100 seconds is 299,792,458 m/s × 100 seconds = 29,979,245,800 m