Why is the velocity of light symbolised with the letter c?

Answer 1

One possibility is the strong belief that the velocity of light is constant. Various symbols were originally used by scientists to represent the speed of light. Any one of them could have become the commonly accepted form. As the science of physics became more sophisticated, the trend towards using one of the more common forms 'c' increased until it became the internationally recognised symbol. Although Einstein used it, for example when he declared that E=mc2, in his earlier works he used both 'c' and/or 'V ', both symbols being in common usage at the time. The first person to use 'c' for the speed of light was German physicist Paul Drude in 1894. In his works he decided to employ 'c' for the speed of light, thus bringing into existence a modified usage of Weber's constant 'c' which had formerly been used to denote a 'light-related' quantity/value in the electrodynamics force law [Weber's force law] set out in a paper by Weber and Kohlrausch in 1856. Why chose 'c' in preference to other symbols'? Perhaps because it was a convenient abbreviation for the 'constant speed of light', as suggested in the introductory sentence above. It also is the first letter of the Latin word for swiftness, celeritas. Unfortunately none of the early users of the form 'c' has related why they chose this letter. And later physicists just continued using a increasingly common and convenient symbol that was used by their peers and which had worked satisfactorily for their eminent predecessors. For more information and the history of using 'c' for the speed of light, see Related links below this box.

Answer 2

C stands for the speed of light 186 000 miles/s

That is why there is so much energy stored in any mass (weight) as Enstein showed us in his equation E=mc2

Energy (E) = m (Mass) x c (speed of light) 2 (squared)

Since C is squared (multiplied by itself) even the smallest mass contains enormous amounts of energy


edit by another person:


although that is correct, it's not what he was asking. I think he meant why c, as opposed to L or S or something. The answer is not known for sure. It is either for "constant" or for "celeritas", the latin word for speed.

Answer 3

c2 is not the speed of light, c is the speed of light. c stands for the Latin word celeritas, meaning swiftness.