From:	Paul Gettle <pgettle@********.NET>
Subject:	Re: Real-Life Computing ...(OT, obviously)
Date:	Wed, 27 May 1998 21:36:23 -0400

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At 08:30 PM 5/27/98 -0400, Craig wrote:
>Paul Gettle wrote:
>> I know it takes electricity one nanosecond to travel 11.something
>> inches (I think it's .82) through a copper wire. Anyone got good
stats
>> on how long a light year is and is good at converting units of
>> measure?
>
> 1 light year is 5,878,499,814,110.65447 Miles or
>9,460,528,404,845.18187 Kilometers.

Using the value for kilometers, plugged into a handy spreadsheet, one
light-nanosecond is equal to 11.8026005850334 inches (so my estimate
from this morning, 11.82, wasn't too far off base. Not bad for that
being before my first cup of caffiene in the morning)

Oh, and in metric, thats 29.9786054859849 cm.

Either way, the speed of electricity through copper (which isn't the
best conductor, but it's still pretty good) is very close to
lightspeed.

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--
-- Paul Gettle (pgettle@********.net)
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