Speed of Light Vs. Speed of sound.. what wins!

Felix Baumgartner’s recent amazing skydive from the edge of space (128,100 feet /39,045 metres), where he was the first unaided human to break the sound barrier by free-falling to earth (or is it the earth rushing up to meet him?).  The speed of s

Light speed

ound is around 750 mph/1207 kph depending on air pressure. Whilst this is fast by humans standards, it is incredibly slow to nature’s fastest speed, that of light.

The speed of light is measured at 186,000 miles, 300,000 kilometres per second, that is 671 million miles per hour/1080 million kilometres per hour- very large numbers to say the least!

Just to best exemplify the difference between speeds:

If spacecraft could  travel to the moon at 750 mph, the speed of sound   ( not really possible or recommended as it is far too slow and there is no sound barrier to break b

Felix Baumgartner

because space is near vacuum),  it would take approx  25 days to reach lunar orbit.

The Apollo moon landers and other spacecraft traveling to the moon average a speed of  17000 mph and take nearly three days to complete the journey.

The speed of light would take just over a second to reach the moon.

Currently, science states that nothing in the universe can travel faster than the speed of light.

Congratulations to Felix Baumgartner for his amazing fete!