Undergrad Do we know how many meters long one second is?

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SUMMARY

The length of the world line of a particle at rest for one second is approximately 300,000,000 meters, derived from the conversion factor of the speed of light (c). For a proper time t of 1 second, the worldline length is calculated as ct. While it is suggested that we "pass through time at the speed of light," this interpretation is limited and should not be overextended, as previous discussions have highlighted the potential for confusion surrounding this concept.

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  • Familiarity with the speed of light (c) as a conversion factor
  • Basic knowledge of inertial reference frames (IRF)
  • Concept of proper time in relativity
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TL;DR
Do we know how many meters long one second is?
In other words, how many meters long is the world line of a particle at rest for 1 second?
 
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student34 said:
Summary:: Do we know how many meters long one second is?

In other words, how many meters long is the world line of a particle at rest for 1 second?
The conversion factor from time to length is the speed of light. For an object at rest in some IRF for proper/coordinate time ##t##, the worldline has length ##ct##.

If ##t = 1s##, then the length of the worldline is approximately ##3 \times 10^{8} \ m##.
 
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I guess this means that we pass through time at the speed of light. Interesting.
 
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student34 said:
I guess this means that we pass through time at the speed of light.
While there is a sense in which this is true, it is a very limited sense and you can't really draw any useful inferences from it. We have had a number of previous PF threads dealing with the confusion caused by taking this statement too far.
 
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