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From: Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,alt.politics
Subject: Re: Nvidia Replaces Intel on DOW
Date: Mon, 4 Nov 2024 19:40:54 -0000 (UTC)
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On Mon, 4 Nov 2024 11:29:47 -0800, John Ames wrote:

> On Mon, 4 Nov 2024 18:58:09 -0000 (UTC)
> Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:
> 
>> > i.e. "eighteen inches is a nanosecond"  
>> 
>> For suitably small definitions of “inch”, I suppose ...
> 
> Well damn, I was misremembering from accounts of Grace Hopper's famous
> "nanosecond" wires. I guess another fundamental principle is "double-
> check yer dang constants..." ;)

1 light-nanosecond is close enough to 12 inches, or almost exactly 30cm. 
The speed of light is officially defined as 299 792 458 m/s exactly.

But remember, that’s for light or radio waves in a vacuum (or a close 
enough approximation, like Earth’s atmosphere). Electrical signals through 
a wire travel much slower -- I believe half the speed of light or even 
less.

And the actual charge carriers (electrons, in a metal wire) move even 
slower; I remember a book that said they can take several days to go 
completely around an electrical circuit.

By the way, the speed of sound under normal Earth atmospheric conditions 
is very close to 1 millionth of the speed of light. Coincidence? You be 
the judge. ;)