speed of light
43
3.8
- noun
- /spiːd əv laɪt/
- Specialized
:
velocidad de la luz
- Scientists have proven that nothing can exceed the speed of light, which is 299,792,458 meters per second.
- travel at the speed of light
- move at the speed of light
- the speed of light is constant
So someone has measured the speed of light, or have they?
- So someone has measured the speed of light, or have they?
- Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.
- And he used Jupiter's moons to measure the speed of light.
- But they do travel at speed of speed of light, yes.
- I can send it anywhere on earth at the speed of light for free.
- Even if you move at the speed of light, you cannot escape from that region.
- How do we travel close to the speed of light or faster than the speed of light?
- So a laser moves at the speed of light.
Examples
-
Its speed is equal to the speed of light.
-
Humans face limits to their view of the universe imposed by the finite speed of light.
Academic text (2000) -
I can send it anywhere on earth at the speed of light for free.
-
Even if you move at the speed of light, you cannot escape from that region.
-
How do we travel close to the speed of light or faster than the speed of light?
-
No object can move faster than the speed of light, a firm speed limit in nature.
Academic text (1994) -
The signal does not gain any speed, since the speed of light is constant.
Academic text (1996) -
And yet the speed of light is constant in a vacuum.
-
Time slows down as you approach the speed of light.
-
According to special relativity, a normal object cannot reach the speed of light in a vacuum, c.
Academic text (1996)
Synonyms
9
7.7
The speed that light travels in empty space, exactly 299,792,458 meters per second
8
5.0
The speed that light travels in empty space
2
4.9
The fastest speed at which light moves in empty space
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the maximum speed at which light travels' is directly compositional from 'speed' (measure of how fast), 'of' (possession/relation), and 'light' (the physical phenomenon), so a learner who knows the constituent words can readily infer the phrase. This literal noun phrase and its figurative extension ('extremely fast') follow a common cross-linguistic pattern, making it transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Speed of light is the name for the steady speed at which light travels through empty space, about 300,000 kilometres per second. That's why scientists treat it as the exact top speed in the universe.