Speed of light
The speed of light c cannot be exceeded.
Explanation
If you stand still your velocity is 0. There is a maximum speed that cannot be exceeded. That is the speed of light, which is exactly 299 792 458 meters per second.
You write it with the letter c (latin: celeritas). There is something very special to that. Two light rays that hit each other, do not collide with the double speed of light. This is described in the special theory of relativity.
All forms of electromagnetic radiation, including visible light, travel in vacuum at the speed c as do massless particles and field perturbations, such as gravitational waves.
HistoryThe German physicist Albert Einstein published the theory in 1905. |