A light-year is a unit of distance, representing the distance that light travels in one year in a vacuum. To calculate a light-year, you can use the speed of light, which is approximately 299,792,458 meters per second.
To determine the distance traveled by light in one year, you need to multiply the speed of light by the number of seconds in a year. Here's the calculation:
Speed of light = 299,792,458 meters per second Number of seconds in a year = 365 days/year × 24 hours/day × 60 minutes/hour × 60 seconds/minute
So, the calculation for a light-year would be:
Light-year = Speed of light × Number of seconds in a year
Plugging in the values:
Light-year = 299,792,458 meters per second × (365 days/year × 24 hours/day × 60 minutes/hour × 60 seconds/minute)
Calculating this expression will give you the distance light travels in one year, which is approximately 9.461 trillion kilometers (or about 5.879 trillion miles).
Keep in mind that this calculation assumes that light is traveling in a vacuum. In reality, light can be affected by various factors, such as the medium it travels through, gravitational fields, and other phenomena.