Jaw-dropping simulation shows exactly how fast the speed of light actually is
Published on Aug 01, 2025 at 6:08 AM (UTC+4)
by Henry Kelsall
Last updated on Aug 01, 2025 at 4:21 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
A jaw-dropping simulation shows exactly how fast the speed of light is, and it’s certainly not slow.
The speed of light is the speed at which light travels in a vacuum, and it is around 186,282 miles per second, or 299,792,458 meters per second.
It is very fast, and being able to visualize it is tough, but a YouTube video from Airplane Mode has given us a simulation of how fast it is.
What we see is something truly extraordinary, as well as scary, as to how fast it actually is.
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Just how fast does the speed of light look?
In order to show us the speed, the YouTuber showed us the route taken in the simulation.
We go right around the Earth as if we are in an aircraft doing a round-the-world flight.
But when we get the actual speed of light simulation, it really is too fast for us to take in.
It takes just 0.13 seconds to get through the flight, which equates to eight frames of footage.
This means anything flying around the Earth that fast would complete 7.5 orbits of the planet per second.
The simulation was uploaded onto YouTube a couple of years ago, but it isn’t any less impressive in 2025.
Can anything fly at as fast as light?
At the time of writing – and for a while yet, you’d imagine – no manned craft can fly that fast.
In fact, the closest we are likely to get to it is via hypersonic flight.
Hypersonic, however, is still much slower than the speed of light, at around Mach 5 and 3,800mph.
It is a universal speed limit, according to Einstein’s Theory of Special Relativity.
That states that nothing with mass can travel at, or faster, than the speed of light.
The amount of energy that would be needed to reach it is incredible; in fact, it would be infinite.
So mankind is unlikely to ever reach it, save for a miracle.
However, the YouTube simulation gives us a very good idea as to what would happen were we to do so.
We’d probably get dizzy quite quickly…
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Henry is a content writer with nearly ten years experience, having written for various publications since 2017. Qualifying with a Sports Journalism degree from Staffordshire University, Henry loves all things automotive but has a particular soft spot for classic Japanese cars and anything Lancia. He also has a curious passion for steam locomotives.
