light year

[lastra78]

what is the distance of a light year when broken down into miles?

 

[telfrow]

186,000 miles/second * 60 seconds/minute * 60 minutes/hour * 24 hours/day * 365 days/year = 5,865,696,000,000 miles/year <br /><br />http://science.howstuffworks.com/question94.htm <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[harmonicaman]

Do the math, it's very straight forward...<br /><br />Using 186,000 miles per second as the speed of light and figuring the number of seconds in a year (60 sec/min X 60 min/hr X 24 hr/day X 365 day/year = 3.15X10⁷); we find light can travel:<br /><br /><big><i>5,865,696,000,000 miles</i></big> in one (average) year.<br /><br />That's about 6 trillion miles or 6.0X10¹² miles.<br /><br />Why is this so hard for you people? <img src="/images/icons/rolleyes.gif" />

 

[kmarinas86]

29979245800 (centimeters/second) / 2.54 (centimeters/inch) / 12 (inches/foot) / 5280 (feet/mile) * 3600 (seconds/hour) * 24 (hours/day) * 365.242199 (days/year) = 5,878,499,817,655.79 (miles/year)<br /><br />Exactly!

 

[mcbethcg]

I assume some people here have not yet had algebra. And that's cool. Welcome to the forums.

 

[drwayne]

I remember when an astronomy professor, who was fond of showing us rules of thumb - showed us that the number of seconds in a year can be remembered as<br /><br />pi * 10^7<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[drwayne]

Hi lastra78, welcome.<br /><br />Let me give you a hint for questions like this. If you go to google, and search on <br /><br />light year in miles<br /><br />you get this:<br /><br />http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=light+year+in+miles<br /><br />I tell you this not to discourage you asking questions, but to simply show you that you can indulge your curiosity 24 hours a day, without waiting for some old fool like me.<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[drwayne]

I end up doing silly stuff like this a lot - by the way:<br /><br />http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=ounces+in+a+pint<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[tplank]

Better yet:<br /><br />http://www.digitaldutch.com/unitconverter/ <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>The Disenfranchised Curmudgeon</p><p>http://tonyplank.blogspot.com/ </p> </div>

 

[drwayne]

True, I probably shifted the focus too much to the specifics of the question. The big point I had wanted to make was this - when you have a question like "what is a ****", a good place to start is google, or your personal favorite search engine.<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[tplank]

I agree completely. Google is an underated tool and I say this in spite of its hype. Absolutely incredible what you can find if you put your mind to it. Google itself does unit conversions, so I decided to take a peak. Sure enough, check it out:<br /><br />http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=light+year+in+miles <br /><br />http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=light+year+in+parsecs <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>The Disenfranchised Curmudgeon</p><p>http://tonyplank.blogspot.com/ </p> </div>

 

[drwayne]

Its an amazing world, isn't it?<br /><br />Just plain cool....<br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[tplank]

I wonder if I could make money as a google search consultant. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>The Disenfranchised Curmudgeon</p><p>http://tonyplank.blogspot.com/ </p> </div>

 

[drwayne]

I used to say that the most useful skill I learned in college was the ability to use an index - same thing, only *way* better.<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br />Wayne <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>"1) Give no quarter; 2) Take no prisoners; 3) Sink everything."  Admiral Jackie Fisher</p> </div>

 

[tplank]

HAHAHAHAHA!<br /><br /><img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>The Disenfranchised Curmudgeon</p><p>http://tonyplank.blogspot.com/ </p> </div>