Discover new perspectives and gain insights with IDNLearn.com. Get the information you need from our community of experts who provide accurate and thorough answers to all your questions.

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)

Sagot :

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:

[tex]x=\frac{(2.00\times10^8m)\times(39.37in)}{(1m)}=7.87\times10^9in[/tex]

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:

[tex]y=\frac{(10^{-9}s)\times(7.87\times10^9in)}{1s}=7.87\text{ in}[/tex]

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:

[tex]z=\frac{(458.9ns\text{)}\times(7.87in)}{(1ns)}=3.61\times10^3in[/tex]

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