Size of a Wave Rick Graziani Cabrillo College. Rick Graziani [email protected] Speed of light = 186,000 miles/sec or 300,000,000 meters/sec (approx.)

Size of a Wave

Rick Graziani

Cabrillo College

Rick Graziani [email protected] 2

Speed of light = 186,000 miles/sec or 300,000,000 meters/sec (approx.)

1 second

186,000 miles

Mile: 0 Mile: 186,000

Speed of Light

Start here End here

1 mile

• 5,280 feet per mile; so 186,000 miles = 982,080,000 feet

• 63,360 inches per mile; so 186,000 miles = 11,784,960,000 inches


Wavelength http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/wavelength.html

• Speed of the wave = Frequency x Wavelength

• Wavelength = Speed of the wave / Frequency

• Wavelength = Speed of the wave / Frequency

• 10.93 feet = 982,080,000 feet / 90,000,000

All About Wavelength

http://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/wavelength.html


Speed of light = 186,000 miles/sec

Length of rope 186,000 miles long

1 second

Mile: 0, beginning of rope

0 seconds

After 1/2 second

After 1 second

Mile: 186,000, end of rope

• Length of rope 186,000 miles long traveling at the speed of light, 186,000 miles/second

• In 1 second we would see the entire length of rope go by.

0 second

Speed of Light

1 second



Length of rope 186,000 miles longMile: 0, beginning of rope


• So, if 1 Hz is 1 cycle per second, traveling at the speed of light….

• The length of the wave would be 186,000 miles long (300,000,000 meters).

1 second0 second

Speed of Light – 1 Hz

186,000 miles




• 2 Hz is 2 cycles per second, traveling at the speed of light….

• The length of each wave would be 186,000/2 or 93,000 miles long (150,000,000 meters).

1 second0 second

Speed of Light – 2 Hz

93,000 miles



• 11,784,960,000 inches in a mile

• 1 Hz wave = 11,784,960,000 inches (11 billion inches)

• 2 Hz wave = 11,784,960,000 / 2 = 6 billion inches (give or take)

• What would a wave the size of 11 GHz wave be?

Speed of Light – Let’s do inches

11,784,960,000 inches

6,000,000,000 inches



• Size of the rope divided by the number of pieces = size of each piece

• About 1 inch! (11,784,960,000 inches / 11,000,000,000 pieces or cycles or Hz)

• Same as slicing up the 186,000 mile rope into 11 billion equal pieces.

• Each piece is 1 inch, 11 billion pieces equal 11 billion inches, the size of our rope traveling at 186,000 miles per second.

Speed of Light – Lets do inches

1 second0 second …1 2 11 billion



1 inch

Length of rope 11.8 billion inches long



• 11 inches! (Actually, 11.8 inches because we rounded off values.)

(approx.: 11,784,960,000 inches / 1,000,000,000)

• Same as slicing up the 186,000 mile rope into 1 billion equal pieces.

• Each piece is 11 inches, 1 billion pieces equal 11 billion inches, the size of our rope traveling at 186,000 miles per second.

Speed of Light – Lets do inches

1 second0 second …1 2 1 billion



11.8 inches



RADM Grace Hopper

• Grace Hopper, “Mother of Cobol”

• The size of a nanosecond, 11.8 inches

• The distance the speed of light travels in a billionth of a second.


• Same as slicing up the 186,000 mile rope into 2.4 billion equal pieces.

• Each piece is 4.8 inches or 12 cm (.12 meters)

(approx.: 11,784,960,000 inches / 2,400,000,000)

• 2.4 billion pieces equal 11 billion inches, the size of our rope traveling at 186,000 miles per second.

Size of a 2.4 GHz WLAN wave

1 second0 second …1 2 2.4 billion



4.8 inches



• Same as slicing up the 186,000 mile rope into 5.8 billion equal pieces.

• Each piece is 2 inches or 5 cm (.05 meters)

(approx.: 11,784,960,000 inches / 5,800,000,000)

• 5.8 billion pieces equal 11 billion inches, the size of our rope traveling at 186,000 miles per second.

Size of a 5.8 GHz WLAN wave

1 second0 second …1 2 5.8 billion



2 inches


End of Size of a Wave

Rick Graziani

Cabrillo College

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Size of a Wave Rick Graziani Cabrillo College. Rick Graziani [email protected] Speed of light = 186,000 miles/sec or 300,000,000 meters/sec (approx.)