How does light years work? How would explain light years in layman’s terms?
In: Physics
You could compare it to describing a city as being “two hours away”. It looks like a unit of time, but it’s really a unit of distance based on a known speed (in this case typical driving speeds).
The key difference between a light year and a “driving hour” is that the speed of light is precisely known and constant, so a light year is a well-defined distance while a “driving hour” can only ever be an approximate unit depending on traffic and the individual driver.
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