It's Okay to Be Smart: Sunlight Is Way Older Than You Think. Here’s Why…

A battery gauge has 14 blocks, where 7 blocks are full. The grades of the battery gauge reads, from top to bottom, as follows. Gamma rays, X rays, U V, visible rays, and infrared. An arrow points from visible light to infrared.

If the sun instantly switched off like a light bulb, it would take almost 8 and a half minutes before humans on Earth realized what happened. Light travels at the fastest speed there is, but it still takes almost 500 seconds to get to Earth. This means the sunlight that reaches Earth is old. How is that possible? It is due to the concept of random walks. Part of the “It’s Okay to Be Smart” series.

(Source: DCMP)

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Keywords:
astronomy

Files 1

  • It's Okay to Be Smart: Sunlight Is Way Older Than You Think. Here’s Why…

    Type:
    Video
    Format:
    Streaming
    Accommodations:
    English Audio Descriptions - Visual, English Captions - Auditory
    Languages:
    English
    License:
    OER
    Author:
    PBS Digital Studios
    Length:
    8 minutes