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Article #1047Re: Speed of light symbol - "c"
From: Michael Hamilton (phys 306)
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1992 21:25
Date: Mon, 10 Aug 1992 21:25
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In <8AUG199205522317@mpx2.lampf.lanl.gov> pedlar@mpx2.lampf.lanl.gov (Pedlar, Todd K.) writes: >In article <uang-040892152722@chlorine.ops.lmsc.lockheed.com.>, uang@lmsc.lockheed.com (Yea Uang) writes... >>I was asked why lower case letter "c" is used to stand for speed of light. >>Is it just a symbol or with certain historical reason? >> >>Yea Uang >>Lockheed Missiles and Space >>Sunnyvale, CA >>Internet mail: uang@lmsc.lockheed.com >>Phone: (408)-742-2809 >>Fax: (408)-742-6428 >I think there really isn't any special reason for the letter c, except that >it was at one time (and still is for the most part) to denote the speed >of any kind of wave by the letter c (usally subscripted, as in c-sub-s for >the speed of sound), so they just decided to let c stand for the speed of >light. How about celiteratus (sp?), latin for speed (?), whence acceleration.
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!haven.umd.edu!darwin.sura.net!mips!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!destroyer!ubc-cs!alberta!kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca!unixg.ubc.ca!unixg.ubc.ca!ph3 From: ph3@unixg.ubc.ca (Michael Hamilton (phys 306)) Newsgroups: sci.physics Subject: Re: Speed of light symbol - "c" Message-ID: <ph3.713481945@unixg.ubc.ca> Date: 10 Aug 92 21:25:45 GMT References: <uang-040892152722@chlorine.ops.lmsc.lockheed.com.> <8AUG199205522317@mpx2.lampf.lanl.gov> Sender: news@unixg.ubc.ca (Usenet News Maintenance) Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada Lines: 20 Nntp-Posting-Host: unixg.ubc.ca