Why is the speed of light so close to 300,000?

Meters and seconds are not the only human units used to measure length and time. The value of 299792458 m/s is no more special than, say, 1802617757855.08 fur/ftn (furlongs/fortnight). read more

However c being close to 300,000 km/s does make things easier and there is probably a case for changing the definition of the meter so that c is exactly 300,000 m/s (or even 100,000 ft/s if you wanted to use a “metric foot”). read more

So, thanks to Maxwell and Einstein, we know that the speed of light is connected with a number of other (on the face of it, quite distinct) phenomena in surprising ways. But neither theory fully explains what determines that speed. read more

We could have written it as 300,000,000 m/s, or even 1 light year/year. read more