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  1. The speed of light is now defined to be 299,792,458 m/s. What is the approximate relative error in taking tex2html_wrap_inline111 m/s?

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    How many miles does light travel in a millisecond?

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    How many times around the earth can light travel in a second?

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    The nearest star outside the solar system is 4 light-years away. How many miles is it to the star?

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    What difference would it make in the time for light to get to us from tex2html_wrap_inline113 Centauri if the figure for c differed by 1 m/s - that is if it were 299,792,457 m/s instead of 299,892,458 m/s?

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    A light signal traveling at 299,792,458 m/s are sent and some other signal travelling at 299,792,457 ``m/s'' are sent from New York to San Francisco, a distance of about 4800 km. How far is the light signal ahead of the other signal when they arrive in San Francisco?

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  2. The radius of the earth's orbit around the sun is tex2html_wrap_inline117 m. Find its period in seconds and evaluate v/c, its speed relative to the speed of light. (One year is 365.24 days.)

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Mary Hall Reno
Mon Aug 30 11:41:04 CDT 1999