What Is the Speed of Light? The Number That Defines the Meter

Teal fibre-optic light streaks

What is the speed of light? In vacuum it is exactly 299,792,458 meters per second, or about 186,282 miles per second. Since 1983 that number has not been a measurement. It is a definition, and the meter is the thing being defined by it. That reversal is the strangest part of the story. For three … Read more