Orders of magnitude (speed)
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To help compare different orders of magnitude, the following list describes various speed levels between 1.3×10−9 m/s and 3×108 m/s.
Contents |
[edit] List of orders of magnitude for speed
| Factor | Value (m/s) | Value (km/h) | Item |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-9 | 1.3×10-9 | 4.68×10-9 | Average rate of the Moon receding from the Earth. |
| 0.3×10-9 to 3×10-9 | 1×10-9 to 1×10-8 | Typical relative speed of continental drift | |
| 4.8×10-9 | 1.7×10-8 | Hair growth. | |
| 10-6 | 1.52×10-6 | 5.4×10-6 | Speed of a cellular vesicle propelled by a motor protein[1]. |
| 10-2 | 0.013 | 0.0468 | Speed of a Garden snail [2]. |
| 10-1 | 0.28 | 1 | 1 km/hour |
| 0.447 | 1.6093 | 1 mph | |
| 100 | 1 | 3.6 | 1 m/second |
| 1–1.5 | 3.6–5.4 | Average walking speed. | |
| 101 | 11.80 | 42.48 | Top speed of Donovan Bailey and Maurice Greene 1997 World Championship 100 meter sprint. (Top speed ~42.5 km/h) |
| 11.1–16.7 | 40–60 | Typical speed of car (city road), typical speed of road-race cyclist. | |
| 5–25 | 18–90 | Speed of propagation for unmyelinated sensory neurons. | |
| 30 | 108 | Typical speed of car (major road), Cheetah—fastest of all terrestrial animals, Sailfish—fastest Fish. Speed of go-fast boat | |
| 36 | 130 | Land speed record for a human powered vehicle. | |
| 40 | 144 | Typical peak speed of a local service train (or intercity on lower standard tracks). | |
| 90 | 320 | Typical speed of a modern high-speed train (e.g. latest generation of production TGV), a diving Peregrine Falcon—fastest bird. | |
| 97.2 | 350 | Maximum speed of an Enzo Ferrari | |
| 102 | 103 | 370 | Speed of super torpedo VA-111 Shkval |
| 105.5 | 379.8 | Maximum speed of a Ferrari F50 GT1 | |
| 113.3 | 407.4 | Maximum speed of a Bugatti Veyron (currently second fastest production car in the world). | |
| 114.52 | 412.28 | Maximum speed of a SSC Ultimate Aero TT (currently fastest production car in the world). | |
| 120 | 432 | Speed of propagation for mammalian motor neurons. | |
| 130 | 468 | Wind speed of a tornado. | |
| 150.6 | 539 | Top speed of an internal combustion powered NHRA Top Fuel Dragster | |
| 152.7 | 550 | Speed of Transrapid. | |
| 157 | 575 | Speed of experimental test TGV in 2007. | |
| 161 | 580 | Speed of JR-Maglev in 2003. | |
| 250 | 900 | Typical cruising speed of a modern jet airliner, e.g. an Airbus A380. | |
| 331.5 | 1,193.4 | Speed of sound in air at sea level and 0°C. | |
| 344.66 | 1,240.77 | Max speed reached by the jet-propelled car ThrustSSC in 1997—Land speed record. [3] | |
| 428 | 1,540.8 | Max speed of Bell X-1. | |
| 464 | 1,670 | Speed of Earth's rotation at the equator. | |
| 603 | 2,170.8 | Speed of the Concorde airliner. | |
| 975 | 3,510 | Muzzle velocity of M16 rifle. | |
| 981 | 3,532 | SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest aircraft driven by a mechanical jet engine. | |
| 103 | 1,500 | 5,400 | Speed of sound in water |
| 2,000 | 7,200 | Estimated speed of a thermal neutron | |
| 2,019 | 7,268.4 | Speed of the North American X-15 rocket plane. | |
| 3,111 | 11,199.6 | Speed of the X-43 rocket/scramjet plane. | |
| 7,777 | 28,000 | Propagation of the explosion in a detonating cord, typical speed of a satellite and the space Shuttle in low Earth orbit. | |
| 104 | 11,082 | 39,895 | Speed of Apollo 10—High speed record for manned vehicle. |
| 11,200 | 40,320 | Escape velocity from Earth. | |
| 12,900 | 46,440 | Re-entry speed of return capsule for Stardust space probe—Fastest re-entry speed for man-made object. | |
| 16,210 | 58,356 | Escape speed from Earth by NASA New Horizons spacecraft—Fastest escape velocity. | |
| 29,800 | 107,280 | Speed of the Earth in orbit around the Sun. | |
| 70,220 | 252,792 | Speed of the Helios 2 solar probe—Fastest man-made object. | |
| 105 | 200,000 | 700,000 | Orbital speed of the solar system in the Milky Way galaxy. |
| 450,000 | 1,600,000 | Typical speed of a particle of the solar wind, relative to the Sun. | |
| 552,000 | 1,990,000 | Speed of the Milky Way, relative to the cosmic microwave background. | |
| 617,700 | 2,224,000 | Escape velocity from the surface of the Sun. | |
| 106 | 1,000,000 | 3,600,000 | Typical speed of a Moreton wave across the surface of the Sun. |
| 107 | 10,000,000 | 36,000,000 | Typical speed of a fast neutron. |
| 30,000,000 | 100,000,000 | Typical speed of an electron in a cathode ray tube. | |
| 108 | 124,000,000 | 447,000,000 | Speed of light in a diamond (Refractive index 2.417). |
| 200,000,000 | 720,000,000 | Speed of a signal in a cable. | |
| 299,792,458 | 1,079,252,848.8 | Speed of light (or electromagnetic radiation) in vacuum (see the Speed of light). |
[edit] Comparison of speeds in mph and km/h
| Value (mph) | Value (km/h) | Item |
|---|---|---|
| 3 mph | 5 km/h | Walking speed |
| 12-15 mph | 20-25 km/h | Comfortable Bicycling speed |
| 26.7 mph | 43 km/h | Top speed of a running human (professional sprinter). (11.9 m/s) |
| 18–31 mph | 30-50 km/h | Typical residential speed limit Top speed of a running cat, or dog |
| 45–62 mph | 72–100 km/h | Speed limit on a major road Top speed of an antelope |
| 55-81 mph | 88–130 km/h | Highway or motorway speed Top speed of a cheetah |
| 103 mph | 165.8 km/h | Top speed (as of 2006) of a baseball pitcher's fastball |
| 128 mph | 206 km/h | The normal launch speed of the world's fastest roller coaster, Kingda Ka |
| 186 mph | 300 km/h | Typical top running speed of High-speed train |
| 256.15 mph | 412.23 km/h | Top speed of the world's fastest production car (SSC Ultimate Aero) |
| 560 mph | 900 km/h | Jet airliner cruising speed |
| 763.035 mph | 1,228 km/h | Current world land speed record |
| 768.095 mph | 1236.13 km/h | The speed of sound (at sea level and 68°F / 20°C) |
| 16,250 mph | 26,000 km/h | Re-entry speed of a space shuttle |
| 24,759 mph | 40,320 km/h | Earth's escape velocity at the equator |
| 670,616,628.6 mph | 1,079,252,848.8 km/h | Speed of light |
[edit] Example speeds in m/s
| Value (m/s) | Item |
|---|---|
| 0.00275 m/s | world record speed of the fastest snail in the Congham, UK [4]. |
| 0.080 m/s | the top speed of a sloth (= 8.0 cm/s) |
| 1.2 m/s | a typical human walking speed (2.7 mph or 4.3 km/h); below a speed of about 2 m/s, it is more efficient to walk than to run, but above that speed, it is more efficient to run the speed of signals (action potentials) traveling along axons in the human cortex |
| 27 m/s | a car travelling at 60 miles per hour (MPH) (approximately 100 kilometres per hour (km/h)); also the speed briefly maintained by a hunting cheetah. |
| 120 m/s | the maximum speed of signals (action potentials) travelling along myelinated axons in the spinal cord |
| 336 m/s | the speed of sound in the Black Rock Desert when the land speed record was set in 1997 |
| 341 m/s | the current land speed record, which was set by ThrustSSC in 1997. This was supersonic (Mach 1.016) in the Black Rock Desert at the time, but might not have been supersonic in other places. |
| 343 m/s | the approximate speed of sound under standard conditions, which varies according to air temperature |
| 559 m/s | the average speed of Concorde's record Atlantic crossing (1996, based on 1250 mph) |
| 1,000 m/s | the speed of a typical rifle bullet about the top speed of a sub-orbital spacecraft. |
| 1,400 m/s | the speed of the Space Shuttle when the solid rocket boosters separate. |
| 4,500 m/s | A typical value for the specific impulse of current rockets is 4.5 km/s. |
| 8,000 m/s | the speed of the Space Shuttle at main engine shutdown (just before it enters orbit). |
| 17,000 m/s | the approximate speed of the Voyager 1 probe relative to the sun, when it exited the Solar System.[5] |
| 299,792,458 m/s | the speed of light (exact value by definition of the metre) |
[edit] See also
- Typical projectile speeds - also showing the corresponding kinetic energy per unit mass
- Neutron temperature
[edit] References
- ^ Hill, David; Holzwarth, George; Bonin, Keith (2002). "Velocity and Drag Forces on motor-protein-driven Vesicles in Cells". American Physical Society, The 69th Annual Meeting of the Southeastern abstract #EA.002.
- ^ Yee, Angie (1999). Speed of a Snail. The Physics Factbook.
- ^ ThrustSSC
- ^ World snail racing championships
- ^ Speed of the Voyager Space Probes

