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Time constant. In physics and engineering, the time constant, usually denoted by the Greek letter τ (tau), is the parameter characterizing the response to a step input of a first-order, linear time-invariant (LTI) system. [1] [note 1] The time constant is the main characteristic unit of a first-order LTI system. It gives speed of the response.
The speed of light in vacuum, commonly denoted c, is a universal physical constant that is exactly equal to 299,792,458 metres per second (approximately 300,000 kilometres per second; 186,000 miles per second; 671 million miles per hour). [Note 3] According to the special theory of relativity, c is the upper limit for the speed at which ...
RC time constant. The RC time constant, denoted τ (lowercase tau ), the time constant (in seconds) of a resistor–capacitor circuit (RC circuit), is equal to the product of the circuit resistance (in ohms) and the circuit capacitance (in farads ): It is the time required to charge the capacitor, through the resistor, from an initial charge ...
Snell's law. Refraction of light at the interface between two media of different refractive indices, with n 2 > n 1. Since the velocity is lower in the second medium (v 2 < v 1 ), the angle of refraction θ 2 is less than the angle of incidence θ 1; that is, the ray in the higher-index medium is closer to the normal.
186 282 mi. The light-second is a unit of length useful in astronomy, telecommunications and relativistic physics. It is defined as the distance that light travels in free space in one second, and is equal to exactly 299 792 458 m (approximately 983 571 055 ft or 186 282 mi ). Just as the second forms the basis for other units of time, the ...
The one-way speed. Unidirectional light path in the aberration of light. Although the average speed over a two-way path can be measured, the one-way speed in one direction or the other is undefined (and not simply unknown), unless one can define what is "the same time" in two different locations. To measure the time that the light has taken to ...
Special relativity. Gravitational time dilation is a form of time dilation, an actual difference of elapsed time between two events, as measured by observers situated at varying distances from a gravitating mass. The lower the gravitational potential (the closer the clock is to the source of gravitation), the slower time passes, speeding up as ...
A light-year, alternatively spelled light year ( ly or lyrr [3] ), is a unit of length used to express astronomical distances and is equal to exactly 9,460,730,472,580.8 km ( Scientific notation: 9.4607304725808 × 10 12 km), which is approximately 5.88 trillion mi.