This Is A Light-Nanosecond!

less than 1m read

·Nov 10, 2024

I trimmed my beard yesterday, so I'm feeling a bit like a baby today. But look at the trimmings! Specifically this one that is 2.4 fortnits worth of beard growth. How do I know? Well, because of this tool I made. This about 5 years ago to free people from the tyranny of standard units. It measures in weird units like beard fortnits, the typical length of beard grows every 2 weeks.

It's also got light pico seconds, how far light travels in a trillionth of a second. If you didn't get one 5 years ago but you're subscribed much later this year, three boxes from now you'll get one in a special Legacy box we're making. The entire ruler is exactly one light nond long. This is how far light travels in a vacuum in 1 nond.

Everything I see from this distance, I'm seeing as it was a billionth of a second ago. It's a reminder that you live in the past because light has a finite speed. You do not see things as they are; you see the universe only as it was. Also, you're going nowhere if you fall asleep tonight in the same bed you woke up in this morning. Your average velocity for the day will be zero.

How Bird Wings Work (Compared to Airplane Wings) - Smarter Every Day 62

Fuzzy Pancakes and More! LÜT #19

View All

Zeros of polynomials (with factoring): common factor | Polynomial graphs | Algebra 2 | Khan Academy

So we’re given a p of x; it’s a third degree polynomial, and they say plot all the zeros or the x-intercepts of the polynomial in the interactive graph. The reason why they say interactive graph, this is a screenshot from the exercise on Khan Academy, whe…

Aliens under the Ice – Life on Rogue Planets

Rogue planets are planets that travel through the universe alone. They inhabit the dark and vast space between the stars. Drifting alone through eternal darkness, no light warms their surfaces, and they’re exposed to the freezing cold of outer space. They…

DON’T PAY with Cash or Debit!! This is better...

What’s up, you guys? It’s Graham here! So, we’ve all heard the saying that cash is king. Well, you know what? I think we’re slowly entering an era where cash no longer has quite the power and leverage it once used to have, and instead we’re seeing the sh…

Introduction to multiplication

Our squirrel friend here likes to collect acorns because, really, that’s how he is able to live. Let’s say every day he collects exactly three acorns. So, what I’m curious about is how many acorns will he have after doing this for five days? One way to t…

How Lawn Mower Blades Cut Grass (at 50,000 FRAMES PER SECOND) - Smarter Every Day 196

Hey, it’s me Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day. If you’re like me, you’ve spent a ton of your life on a lawn mower, and you’ve been thinking about how the blade interacts with the blades of grass. So today on Smarter Every Day, we’re going to look…

The History of Life, I guess

From sharing the Earth with many other human species merely as hunter-gatherers trying to brave the elements to building rockets, creating the internet, and now with our eyes set on Mars, the history of humanity is one that’s filled with determination, co…

This Is A Light-Nanosecond!

More Articles