Final answer:
To determine how far light travels per second, divide the distance light travels in a year (9.45 × 10^15 meters) by the number of seconds in a year (3.15 × 10^7 seconds), which equals 3 × 10^8 meters per second.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is asking how far light travels in one second. To find this, we divide the total distance light travels in a year by the number of seconds in a year. Since light travels about 9.45 × 10^15 meters in a year, and there are approximately 3.15 × 10^7 seconds in a year, we divide the distance by the time to calculate the speed of light.
So, the calculation will be: (9.45 × 10^15 meters) / (3.15 × 10^7 seconds) = 3 × 10^8 meters per second, which is the speed of light in a vacuum.