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Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. How many FEET does it travel in a microsecond? (A microsecond is a millionth of a second.)

2 Answers

5 votes

Final answer:

Light travels 186,000 miles per second, which is equivalent to 982,080,000 feet per second. Since there are 1,000,000 microseconds in a second, light travels approximately 982.08 feet in a microsecond.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question asks how far light travels in a microsecond (a millionth of a second). Since light travels at 186,000 miles per second, it's necessary to convert that speed to feet per second by multiplying by 5,280 (the number of feet in a mile). Then we can calculate the distance light travels in a microsecond.

First, convert the speed of light to feet per second:

186,000 miles/second × 5,280 feet/mile = 982,080,000 feet/second

Next, convert one second to microseconds:

1 second = 1,000,000 microseconds

Then divide the speed of light in feet per second by the number of microseconds in a second to find the distance light travels in one microsecond:

982,080,000 feet/second ÷ 1,000,000 microseconds/second = 982.08 feet/microsecond

Therefore, light travels 982.08 feet in a microsecond.

User Axon
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5 votes
1 mile is 5,280 ft, and 1 second has 1,000,000 microseconds.
So 186,000 miles per second multiplied by 5,280 feet per mile gives 982,080,000 feet per second.
Dividing this value by 1,000,000 microseconds per second gives the final answer of 982.08 feet per microsecond.
User Nandithakw
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5.6k points