An early method of measuring the speed of light makes use of a rotating slotted wheel. A beam of light passes through one of the slots at the outside edge of the wheel, travels to a distant mirror, and returns to the wheel just in time to pass through the next slot in the wheel. One such slotted wheel has a radius of 8.0 cm and 950 slots at its edge. Measurements taken when the mirror was l = 500 m from the wheel indicated a speed of light of 3.0 105 km/s.
(a) What was the (constant) angular speed of the wheel (in rad/s) ?
(b) What was the linear speed of a point on the edge of the wheel (in m/s) ?
This is my work:
(a)
d=2*L
d=2*500m
d=1000m
t=L/c
t=500m/(3*10^8m/s)
t=0.000002s
angular speed=rw
Where do I go from here?