speed of light

English

Noun

speed of light (plural speeds of light) (abbreviated as c)

  1. (physics) The speed of electromagnetic radiation; in a perfect vacuum it is defined as 299,792,458 metres per second
    • 2008, BioWare, Mass Effect, Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →ISBN, OCLC 246633669, PC, scene: FTL Drive: Appearance Codex entry:
      As the subjective speed of light is raised within the field, objects outside will appear to red-shift, eventually becoming visible only to radio telescope antennae.
    • 2011 September 22, Nick Collins, “Speed of light 'broken' by scientists”, in Daily Telegraph‎:
      The science world was left in shock when workers at the world's largest physics lab announced they had recorded subatomic particles travelling faster than the speed of light – a feat that Einstein said was impossible.
  2. (colloquial, figurative) A very rapid speed.

Synonyms

Translations

See also

Further reading
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.