An early method of measuring the speed of light makes use of a rotating slotted

Question

An early method of measuring the speed of light makes use of a rotating slotted wheel. A beam of light passes through one of the slots at the outside edge of the wheel travels to a distance mirror, and returns to the wheel just in time to pass through the next slot in the wheel. One such slotted wheel has a radius of 5.0 cm and 500 slots around its edge. Measurements taken when the mirror is L = 500 m from the wheel indicate a speed of light of 3.0 x 108 m/s. (a) What is the constant angular speed of the wheel? (b) What is the linear speed of a point on the edge of the wheel?

Explanation / Answer

time for light to return = 1000/3*10^8 sec distance b/w two holes = 2*3.14*0.05 / 500 = 6.28*10^-4 m linear speed is 6.28*10^-4 *3*10^8/1000 = 188.4 m/sec angular speed = 188.4/0.05 = 3768 rad/sec

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