Speed of Light & Time Dilation: Travel Distance in 1 Sec?

In summary, time dilation means that the time it takes for something to happen (like light traveling) is different for different observers. The light would have traveled more than 186,282 miles in 10 seconds if it traveled at the speed of light in the reference frame of someone on Earth.
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Jose Estrada
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10 seconds somewhere can be one on Earth due to time dilation, right? So In the case of distance wouldn't light have traveled more than 186,282 MPS since it had 10 seconds to travel relative to the 1 second on earth. So if light traveled at 186,282MPS for 10 seconds it would have traveled 1,862,820 Miles in 1 seconds for someone on earth?Is this correct or am I forgetting some sort of Law? Sorry if this is a very dumb question. I'm curious.
 
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Jose Estrada said:
10 seconds somewhere can be one on Earth due to time dilation, right? So In the case of distance wouldn't light have traveled more than 186,282 MPS since it had 10 seconds to travel relative to the 1 second on earth. So if light traveled at 186,282MPS for 10 seconds it would have traveled 1,862,820 Miles in 1 seconds for someone on earth?Is this correct or am I forgetting some sort of Law? Sorry if this is a very dumb question. I'm curious.
There's length contraction and relativity of simultaneity going on as well as just time dilation. When you allow for the effects of all three, everything comes out consistently.

To really see how this works, you'll have to learn to use the Lorentz transformations (from which the time dilation and length contraction formulas are derived).
 
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Jose Estrada said:
10 seconds somewhere can be one on Earth due to time dilation, right? So In the case of distance wouldn't light have traveled more than 186,282 MPS since it had 10 seconds to travel relative to the 1 second on earth. So if light traveled at 186,282MPS for 10 seconds it would have traveled 1,862,820 Miles in 1 seconds for someone on earth?Is this correct or am I forgetting some sort of Law? Sorry if this is a very dumb question. I'm curious.
One thought experiment that leads to the conclusion of time dilation between reference frames starts with the simple premise that the observed speed of a light ray is the same in both frames.

So, you've got things a little back to front.
 

1. What is the speed of light in a vacuum?

The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 299,792,458 meters per second, or about 670,616,629 miles per hour. This is considered to be the fastest possible speed in the universe.

2. How does the speed of light affect time dilation?

The speed of light is a fundamental constant in physics and plays a key role in the theory of relativity. According to this theory, as an object's speed approaches the speed of light, time slows down for that object. This phenomenon is known as time dilation and has been confirmed through various experiments.

3. How far can an object travel in one second at the speed of light?

At the speed of light, an object can travel approximately 299,792,458 meters, or about 186,282 miles, in one second. This distance is equivalent to about 7.5 laps around the Earth's equator.

4. Can anything travel faster than the speed of light?

According to the theory of relativity, nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. This is because as an object approaches the speed of light, its mass increases infinitely and would require an infinite amount of energy to continue accelerating.

5. How does the speed of light affect our perception of time and space?

The speed of light is a fundamental constant in the universe and plays a key role in shaping our perception of time and space. It is the fastest possible speed and sets the limit for how fast we can travel and communicate. It also affects how we perceive distances, as objects moving at high speeds appear to be shorter in the direction of their motion due to time dilation.

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