To measure the speed of light, Galileo and a colleague stood on different mountains with covered lanterns.

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To measure the speed of light, Galileo and a colleague stood on different mountains with covered lanterns. Galileo uncovered his lantern and his friend, seeing the light, uncovered his own lantern in turn. Galileo measured the elapsed time from uncovering his lantern to seeing the light signal response. The elapsed time should be the time for the light to make the round trip plus the reaction time for his colleague to respond. To determine reaction time, Galileo repeated the experiment while he and his friend were close to one another. He found the same time whether his colleague was nearby or far away and concluded that light traveled almost instantaneously. Suppose the reaction time of Galileo's colleague was 0.25 s and for Galileo to observe a difference, the complete round trip would have to take 0.35 s. How far apart would the two mountains have to be for Galileo to observe a finite speed of light? Is this feasible?
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Physics

ISBN: 978-0077339685

2nd edition

Authors: Alan Giambattista, Betty Richardson, Robert Richardson

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