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The speed of light in glass is 2.00x108 m/s. How many inches will light travelthrough glass in 458.9 nanoseconds?(nano = 10-9, 1 meter = 39.37 inches)

User Svlasov
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1 Answer

18 votes
18 votes

The question requires us to calculate how many inches light would travel through glass in 458.9 nanoseconds, given that the speed of light in glass is 2.00x10^8 m/s.

To solve this problem, we'll need to go through the following steps:

1) Calculate the speed of light in inches / nanoseconds, considering that 1 nanosecond = 10^-9 s and 1 meter = 39.37 inches;

2) Calculate how many inches light would travel through glass in 458.9 nanoseconds.

Next, we'll go through the steps above to solve the problem:

1) We can convert the speed of light from meters per second (m/s) to inches per nanosecond (in/ns) in two steps: first, let's calculate the speed of light in in/s:

1 m --------------------------------- 39.37 in

2.00 x 10^8 m ---------------- x

Solving for x, we'll have:


x=((2.00*10^8m)*(39.37in))/((1m))=7.87*10^9in

Therefore, 2.00 x 10^8 m/s corresponds to 7.87 x 10^9 in/s.

Now, let's convert the value obtained in in/ns:

1s -------------------- 7.87 x 10^9 in

10^-9 s = 1 ns ------------ y

Solving for y, we'll have:


y=((10^(-9)s)*(7.87*10^9in))/(1s)=7.87\text{ in}

Therefore, 2.00 x 10^8 m/s corresponds to 7.87 in/ns.

2) Now, we can use the value for speed of light in in/ns to calculate how many inches light would move in 458.9 nanoseconds:

1 ns -------------------- 7.87 in

458.9 ns ------------ z

Solving for z, we'll have:


z=\frac{(458.9ns\text{)}*(7.87in)}{(1ns)}=3.61*10^3in

Therefore, light would travel 3.61 x 10^3 inches in 458.9 ns through glass.

User Ysearka
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