All sites give this value as "exact" value. I mean, what's after the comma? 299792458,000 m/s?
Asked
Active
Viewed 666 times
2 Answers
5
This is an exact value. Meter is defined by the speed of light.
Meter is a distance that the light travels during $\frac{1}{299792458}$ of a second.
Licho
- 415
3
The BIPM (Bureau International de Poids et Mesures) defines the meter as the distance traveled by light in $\frac{1}{299792458}$ seconds.
The metre is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.
The speed of light as $299792458$ m/s is therefore exact and not a measured value.
Similarily, the vaccuum permeability $\mu_0$ also has a defined value of $$\mu_0 = 4\pi \times 10^{-7} N/A^2$$
This is also used to calculate the vaccuum permittivity $$\varepsilon_0 = \frac{1}{\mu_0 c^2} = 8.854\ 187\ 817\ \cdots\times 10^{−12} F/m$$
Sources:
