It's Okay to Be Smart: Sunlight Is Way Older Than You Think. Here’s Why…

8 minutes 23 seconds

DCMP is transitioning to player-based accessibility features, allowing for customization of captions, description, language, and playback speed. Learn more about these features and how they can be beneficial in an educational setting.

Learn More

Now Playing As: Captioned (English) (change)

If the sun instantly switched off like a light bulb, it would take almost 8 and a half minutes before humans on Earth realized what happened. Light travels at the fastest speed there is, but it still takes almost 500 seconds to get to Earth. This means the sunlight that reaches Earth is old. How is that possible? It is due to the concept of random walks. Part of the “It’s Okay to Be Smart” series.

Media Details

Runtime: 8 minutes 23 seconds

Topic: Science
Subtopic: Astronomy, Space Sciences
Grade/Interest Level: 10 - 12
Release Year: 2020
Producer/Distributor: PBS Digital Studios
Series: It's Okay to Be Smart

Recently Added

Language / Accessibility Settings

Audio

Captions

Browse Topics