Galileo performed an experiment to measure the speed of light by timing how long it took light to travel from a lamp he was holding to an assistant about 1.5 km away and back again. Why was Galileo unable to conclude that light had a finite speed?

Respuesta :

Answer:

The time it takes light to cover 1.5 km was too short to be measured by Galileo's instruments.

Explanation:

The speed of light is [tex]c=3*10^8m/s[/tex], which means the time it takes to cover a distance of 1.5 km (or 1,500m) will be

[tex]t= \dfrac{1500m}{3*10^8m/s}[/tex]

[tex]t= 0.000005s[/tex]

which is [tex]\dfrac{1}{200000}[/tex] of a second! This time delay could in no way be measured by Galileo considering the fact that he was using his heartbeat to measure time!

The time it takes light to cover 1.5 km was too short to be measured by Galileo's instruments.

Calculation of the time taken:

here we assume that the speed of the light should be 3*10^8

So here the time taken should be

= 1500 /3*10^8

= 0.000005s

= 1/200000

Hence, The time it takes light to cover 1.5 km was too short to be measured by Galileo's instruments.

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