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    Module # 2 SES10: (Waves and Optics)

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    alleaheunice29
    This document provides information about measuring the speed of light. It discusses Galileo's early experiment in 1667 that failed to accurately measure the speed of light due to human reaction time limitations. It then describes Fizeau's successful terrestrial measurement in 1849 that calculated the speed of light at 315,000,000 m/s. The document establishes that the exact value of the speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 m/s and is denoted by the symbol c. It provides the formula for calculating the speed of light and wavelength of electromagnetic waves. Finally, it includes five example calculation exercises.

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    Module # 2 SES10: (Waves and Optics)

    Uploaded by

    alleaheunice29
    22 views2 pages
    This document provides information about measuring the speed of light. It discusses Galileo's early experiment in 1667 that failed to accurately measure the speed of light due to human reaction time limitations. It then describes Fizeau's successful terrestrial measurement in 1849 that calculated the speed of light at 315,000,000 m/s. The document establishes that the exact value of the speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 m/s and is denoted by the symbol c. It provides the formula for calculating the speed of light and wavelength of electromagnetic waves. Finally, it includes five example calculation exercises.

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    This document provides information about measuring the speed of light. It discusses Galileo's early experiment in 1667 that failed to accurately measure the speed of light due to human reaction time limitations. It then describes Fizeau's successful terrestrial measurement in 1849 that calculated the speed of light at 315,000,000 m/s. The document establishes that the exact value of the speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 m/s and is denoted by the symbol c. It provides the formula for calculating the speed of light and wavelength of electromagnetic waves. Finally, it includes five example calculation exercises.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    22 views2 pages

    Module # 2 SES10: (Waves and Optics)

    Uploaded by

    alleaheunice29
    This document provides information about measuring the speed of light. It discusses Galileo's early experiment in 1667 that failed to accurately measure the speed of light due to human reaction time limitations. It then describes Fizeau's successful terrestrial measurement in 1849 that calculated the speed of light at 315,000,000 m/s. The document establishes that the exact value of the speed of light in a vacuum is 299,792,458 m/s and is denoted by the symbol c. It provides the formula for calculating the speed of light and wavelength of electromagnetic waves. Finally, it includes five example calculation exercises.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    Module # 2

    SES10
    (Waves and Optics)
    Date:
    Semester: 2nd (FINALS)

    Topic: NATURE OF LIGHT


    Module Title: The Speed of Propagation of Light
    Learning Targets:
     To describe and calculate the speed of light in a vacuum.
    Reference/s:
    Padua,A.&Crisostomo,R. Practical and Explorational Physics (Modular Approach).Vibal Publishing House,
    Inc.2007
    Sotto.R.Physics. SIBS Publishing House,Inc. 2006

    Concepts:
    The first recorded experiment on measuring the speed of light was probably that of Galileo in 1667. The
    experiment made use of lanterns, telescopes and shutters. Two people, A and B, with lanterns and shutters
    went to the top of hills several kilometers apart. First, person A flashed light by uncovering his lantern and, as
    soon as person B saw A’s light, he uncovered his own lantern. The speed of light is determined by dividing the
    time elapsed between sending a flash and seeing a return flash from the other observer. Although this method
    is sound in principle, Galileo failed to measure the speed of light. Human reaction time is approximately one-
    half of a second and is too slow to determine the speed of light with any accuracy.

    The first terrestrial measurement of the speed of light was done by Hippolyte Louis Fizeau, a French
    physicist, in 1849 when he projected a pulsed beam of light onto a distant mirror. Based on the number of
    teeth and speed of rotation of the toothed wheel, and knowing the distance to the mirror, he was able to
    calculate a speed of 315,000,000 m/s. 

    Although a flash of light seems to occur instantaneously, light has a finite experimentally measurable velocity of propagation
    which is the same as that of all the other components of the electromagnetic spectrum. The speed of any electromagnetic wave in free
    space (in vacuum) is a constant denoted by the symbol, c. At present, the exact value of c in MKS or SI units is given by:

    C = 2.99792458 x 108 m/s

    For computational purposes, we often use the value, c= 3 x 108 m/s.

    From the equation for speed of light, c = d/t where c = speed of light
    d = distance
    t = time

    For electromagnetic spectrum, the wavelength can be measured using the formula:
    λ =c/f where c = speed of light
    λ = wavelength
    f = frequency
    *All electromagnetic waves travel at the speed of light in a vacuum.

    Exercises:
    1. How far, in kilometers, would a beam of uninterrupted light travel in one year?
    2. A Global Positioning System (GPS) receives a radio signal from a satellite in 1.7 x 10-4 seconds.
    Assuming vacuum conditions for simplicity, how far is the GPS receiver from the satellite?
    3. A laser emits light of frequency 4.74 x 1014 sec-1 . What is the wavelength of the light in nm?
    1nanometer (nm) = 1x10-9m
    4. The blue color of the sky results from the scattering of sunlight by air molecules. The blue light has a
    frequency of about 7.5 x 1014 Hz. Calculate the wavelength, in nm, associated with this radiation.
    5. How many minutes would it take a radio wave to travel from the planet Venus to Earth? (Average
    distance from Venus to Earth = 28 million miles). 1 kilometer (km) = 0.6214 mile (mi); 1km = 1000m

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