National Maximum Speed Law for the 55 mph speed limit offered, "Speed limit 55. It's not just a good idea. It's the law.". Intelligentsia riffed that with a more absolute statement based on the speed of light: "186,000 miles per second. It's not just a good idea, it's the law." National Maximum Speed Law The National Maximum Speed Law (NMSL) in the United States was a provision of the Federal 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act that prohibited speed limits higher than . It was drafted in response to oil price spikes and supply disruptions during the 1973 oil crisis. While Federal officials hoped
Speed of light book "Opticks", Isaac Newton reported Rømer's calculations of the finite speed of light and gave a value of "seven or eight minutes" for the time taken for light to travel from the Sun to the Earth (the modern value is 8 minutes 19 seconds). Newton queried whether Rømer's eclipse shadows were coloured; hearing that they were not, he concluded the different colours travelled at the same speed. In 1729, James Bradley discovered stellar aberration. From this effect he determined that light must travel 10,210 times faster than the Earth in its orbit (the modern figure is 10,066 times faster) or,