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The speed of light is a constant, 299 792 458m/s, usually rounded to 3.0 x 108m/s.

Their are three proportions involving the speed of light that are the underlying

principles that make electromagnetic radiation travel at a fixed speed.

c = ƒ• λ, means that the speed of light, c, is directly proportional to the frequency, f,

and wavelength, λ.

ƒ = λ/ c, means that the frequency, f, of a wave is directly proportional to the

wavelength, λ, and inversely proportional to the speed of light, c.

λ = ƒ/c, means that wavelength is directly proportional to the frequency, f, and

inversely proportional to the speed of light, c.

=========================================

The first line above is correct. That is indeed the speed of light in a vacuum.

And now, to try and answer the question:

The speed of electromagnetic waves is the result of the electrical characteristics of

whatever they're moving through, whether vacuum or something else. The Physicist

who developed the theory of electromagnetic waves ... James Clerk Maxwell ... worked

out all the math in the 1870s, and right there in his math was a number that had to be

the speed of these waves. That was one reason why so many scientists worked so hard

from that time on to measure the speed of light. If it turned out to be the same as the

number in Maxwell's math, then that outcome would strongly support two conjectures:

#1). That light is an electromagnetic wave, and #2). That Maxwell probably knew what

he was talking about, and his whole theory of electromagnetic waves could be depended on.

Ever since then, the more accurately the speed of light is measured, the closer the

measurement comes to Maxwell's prediction for it.

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