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Range of Speeds in the Universe
 
Factor Value (m/s) Value (km/h) Value (mph) Item
10−18 2.2×10−18 7.8×10−18 4.9×10−18 Expansion rate between 2 points in free space 1 m apart under Hubble's law.
10−11 9.8×10−11 3.5×10−10 2.2×10−10 Rate of global sea level rise in 1993–2003 (3.1 mm/year).[1]
10−10 3×10−10 to 3×10−9 1×10−9 to 1×10−8 7×10−10 to 7×10−9 Typical relative speed of continental drift.
10−9 1.3×10−9 4.68×10−9 2.9×10−9 Average rate of the Moon receding from the Earth (approx. 38 mm/year).
4.8×10−9 1.7×10−8 1.1×10−8 Human hair growth (average rate—note that there is a great range of variation).
10−6 1.52×10−6 5.4×10−6 3.4×10−6 Speed of a cellular vesicle propelled by a motor protein.[2]
10−5 1.4×10−5 5.0×10−5 3.1×10−5 Growth rate of bamboo, the fastest-growing woody plant, over 24 hours.[3]
10−4 4.0×10−4 1.4×10−3 8.9×10−4 Speed of Jakobshavn Isbræ, one of the fastest glaciers, in 2003.[4]
6×10−4 2.2×10−3 1.3×10−3 Typical speed of Thiovulum majus, the fastest-swimming bacterium.[5]
10−3 0.00275 0.00990 0.00615 World record speed of the fastest snail in the Congham, UK.[6]
10−2 0.0476 0.171 0.106 Compact cassette tape speed.[7]
0.080 0.29 0.18 The top speed of a sloth.
10−1 0.2778 1 0.6214 1 km/hour.
0.44704 1.609344 1 1 mph.
0.5144 1.852 1.151 1 knot (nautical mile per hour)
100 1.2 4.32 2.68 Typical scanning speed of an audio compact disc; the speed of signals (action potentials) traveling along axons in the human cortex.
1–1.5 3.6–5.4 2.2–3.4 Average walking speed—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.
2.39 8.53 5.35 World record time 50m freestyle swim (20.94 seconds)
5.72 20.42 12.80 World record time marathon (2h03m59s)
6–7 20–25 12–15 Comfortable bicycling speed.
101 10.438 37.578 23.35 Average speed of Jamaican athlete Usain Bolt while setting the 100m world record in Berlin on 16 August 2009.
12.42 44.72 27.78 Top speed reached by Bolt during the same race.
8–14 30–50 18–31 Typical residential speed limit; top speed of a running cat or dog.
14 50 31 Typical speed of road-race cyclist.
17 60 37 Typical speed of thoroughbred racehorse or racing greyhound.
5–25 18–90 11–56 Speed of propagation for unmyelinated sensory neurons.
30 110 70 Typical speed of car (freeway); cheetah—fastest of all terrestrial animals; sailfish—fastest fish; speed of go-fast boat.
36 130 81 Land speed record for a human powered vehicle.
40 140 90 Typical peak speed of a local service train (or intercity on lower standard tracks).
67 240 149 The top speed of the world's fastest roller coaster, Formula Rossa.
90 320 200 Typical speed of a modern high-speed train (e.g. latest generation of production TGV); a diving peregrine falcon—fastest bird; 320 km/h or 200 mph is a parameter sometimes used in defining a supercar.[8]
91 328 204 Fastest recorded ball (a golf ball) in sports.[9]
102 103 370 230 Speed of super torpedo VA-111 Shkval.
103.5 372.6 231.5 Maximum speed recorded by a Formula One car. Set by Juan Pablo Montoya during the 2005 Italian Grand Prix at Monza in a McLaren MP4-20.
105.5 379.8 236 Maximum speed of a Ferrari F50 GT1.
119.742 431.072 267.86 Maximum speed of the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport (currently the fastest production car in the world).
120 432 270 Speed of propagation for mammalian motor neurons.
130 468 290 Wind speed of a powerful tornado.
150.6 539 337 Top speed of an internal-combustion-powered NHRA Top Fuel Dragster.
157 575 351 Top speed of experimental test TGV train in 2007.
161 580 360 Top speed of JR-Maglev in 2003.
250 900 560 Typical cruising speed of a modern jet airliner, e.g. an Airbus A380.
314 1,130 702 Top speed of any World War II-era aircraft, the Me 163B V18 set on July 6, 1944.
320 1,200 720 The speed of a typical .22 LR bullet.
340.3 1,225 761 Speed of sound in standard atmosphere (15 °C and 1 atm).
344.66 1,240.77 770.98 Max speed reached by the jet-propelled car ThrustSSC in 1997—Land speed record.[10]
373 1,342.8 833.9 Highest speed recorded during a free fall set by Felix Baumgartner.
428 1,540.8 957 Max speed of Bell X-1.
464 1,670 1,040 Speed of Earth's rotation at the equator.
603 2,170.8 1,350 Speed of the Concorde airliner.
975 3,510 2,180 Muzzle velocity of M16 rifle.
981 3,532 2,194 SR-71 Blackbird, the fastest aircraft driven by a mechanical jet engine.
103 1,400 5,040 3,100 Speed of the Space Shuttle when the solid rocket boosters separate.
1,500 5,400 3,400 Speed of sound in water or in soft tissue.[11]
1,789 6,443 4,002 Speed of BrahMos II hypersonic cruise missile
2,000 7,200 4,500 Estimated speed of a thermal neutron.
2,019 7,268.4 4,516 Speed of the North American X-15 rocket plane.
2,375 8,550 5,345 Escape velocity from Moon.
2,700 9,600 6,000 Speed of wind on exoplanet HD 189733 b.[12]
2,885 10,385 6,453 Top speed of the fastest rocket sled.[13]
3,373 12,144 7,546 Speed of the X-43 rocket/scramjet plane.
4,500 16,000 10,000 A typical value for the specific impulse of current rockets.
7,700 27,700 17,200 Speed of International Space Station and typical speed of a satellite and the Space Shuttle in low Earth orbit.
7,777 28,000 17,400 Speed of propagation of the explosion in a detonating cord.
104 11,107 39,985.2 24,846 Speed of Apollo 10 – high speed record for manned vehicle.
11,200 40,320 25,100 Escape velocity from Earth.
16,100 57,900 36,000 Fastest projectile velocity (1994).[14]
16,210 58,356 36,261 Escape speed from Earth by NASA New Horizons spacecraft—Fastest escape velocity.
17,000 61,000 38,000 The approximate speed of the Voyager 1 probe relative to the sun, when it exited the Solar System.[15]
29,800 107,280 66,700 Speed of the Earth in orbit around the Sun.
47,800 172,100 106,900 Atmospheric entry speed of the Galileo atmospheric probe—Fastest controlled atmospheric entry for a man-made object.
70,220 252,800 157,100 Speed of the Helios 2 solar probe—Fastest man-made object.
105 140,000 540,000 313,170 Approaching velocity of Messier 98 to our galaxy.
200,000 700,000 450,000 Orbital speed of the solar system in the Milky Way galaxy.
440,000 1,600,000 980,000 Typical speed of the stepped ladder of lightning (cf. return stroke below).[16]
450,000 1,600,000 1,000,000 Typical speed of a particle of the solar wind, relative to the Sun.
552,000 1,990,000 1,230,000 Speed of the Milky Way, relative to the cosmic microwave background.
617,700 2,224,000 1,382,000 Escape velocity from the surface of the Sun.
106 1,000,000 3,600,000 2,200,000 Typical speed of a Moreton wave across the surface of the Sun.
1,610,000 5,800,000 3,600,000 Speed of hypervelocity star PSR B2224+65, which currently seems to be leaving the Milky Way.
5,000,000 18,000,000 11,000,000 Estimated minimum speed of star S2 at its closest approach to Sagittarius A*.[17]
107 14,000,000 50,000,000 31,000,000 Typical speed of a fast neutron.
30,000,000 100,000,000 70,000,000 Typical speed of an electron in a cathode ray tube.
108 100,000,000 360,000,000 220,000,000 The escape velocity of a neutron star.
100,000,000 360,000,000 220,000,000 Typical speed of the return stroke of lightning (cf. stepped leader above).[18]
124,000,000 447,000,000 277,000,000 Speed of light in a diamond (Refractive index 2.417).
200,000,000 720,000,000 440,000,000 Speed of a signal in an optical fiber.
299,792,456 1,079,252,840 670,615,282 Speed of the 7 TeV (0.99999 9991 c) protons in the Large Hadron Collider at full power.[19]
299,792,458 − 1.5×10−15 1,079,252,848.8 − 5.4×10−15 670,616,629 Speed of the Oh-My-God particle, an ultra-high-energy cosmic ray travelling at (1 − 4.9×10−24) c.[20]
299,792,458 1,079,252,848.8 670,616,629 Speed of light or other electromagnetic radiation in a vacuum. Also, Planck speed.