Let’s see how to convert the speed of light to units of miles per hour. The speed of light in a vacuum is a universal constant whose value is 299,792,458 meters per second. It was incorporated into the International System of Units as a constant, and the meter then became a unit derived from this constant. The speed of light is also used as a unit of length on a cosmic scale, defined as a light year, that is, the distance that light travels in one year.
Since the speed of light in a vacuum is usually expressed in units of meters per second, and the problem at hand is converting it to units of miles per hour, it will be necessary to perform the conversion in two steps. On the one hand, you have to convert meters to miles, and on the other, seconds to hours.
The equivalence between miles and kilometers is 1 km = 0.621 miles. And 1 km is equivalent to 1000 meters. First you have to convert meters to kilometers by dividing the value of the speed of light by 1000, and multiplying by 0.621 to convert kilometers to miles. So the speed of light in units of miles per second is calculated as 299,792,458 x 0.621 / 1000. The speed of light in a vacuum is 186,171.116418 miles per second.
The equivalence between hours and seconds is, since one hour is 60 minutes and 1 minute is 60 seconds, 1 hour = 60 x 60 = 3600 seconds. To convert the speed of light from units of seconds to hours, multiply by 3600; so 186.171.116418 miles per second = 186.171.116418 x 3600 miles per hour. The speed of light in a vacuum is 670,216,019.1048 miles per hour.
Fountain
National Institute of Standards and Technology. CODATA Value: speed of light in vacuum. Accessed December 2021.
