Consider Galileo's method of measuring the speed of light using two lanterns. To get an accuracy of about 10%, the time taken by the experimenter in closing or opening the shutter should be about one tenth of the time taken by the light in going from one experimenter to the other. Assume that it takes 1/100 second for an experimenter to close or open the shutter. How far should the two experimenters be to get a 10% accuracy? What are the difficulties in having this separation?
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The two experimenters be to get a 10% accuracy at a distance of 29979 km.
The difficulties in having this separation is as the surface of the earth is curved, light from one of the experiments will not get to the other.
Explanation:
We know that light of speed = 299792458 m/s
To have a precision of 10 percent the light between the observers is 1/10th of a second.
Light-traveled distance in 0.1 s = 0.1 x 299792458 = 29979 km.
The Earth's curvature will be the hard thing in separating the distance.
As the surface of the earth is curved, light from one of the experiments will not get to the other.
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