Video demonstrating the speed of light is blowing people’s minds

When something happens in the blink of an eye, it's hard to imagine how fast it's travelling.

Sometimes you need to a slow-motion replay or a visual concept to understand what's really happening.

Sure, we know it's the fastest entity on Earth, but how can we put it into context?

One video has visually represented how fast light is actually is.

Planetary scientist Dr. James O’Donoghue has created an animated video that helps viewers visualise the astonishing speed of light in the context of Earth and our solar system.

The animated video illustrates the speed of light across planet Earth / Instagram/@nowspacetime

And the results are magnificent!

In a vacuum around Earth, light would complete 7.5 orbits per second around the Earth's surface. Or if you're looking at a world map, light would complete 7.5 laps a second.

For a trip from Earth's surface to the moon's surface, light would take 1.255 seconds. To reach Mars from Earth, it would take only 3 minutes and 2 seconds.

Impressively, light can travel from the sun to Earth, approximately 148 million kilometres, in just 8 minutes. Although, it takes a little over four hours for light to reach Neptune, the farthest planet in our solar system, covering a distance of 4.5 billion kilometres.

Viewers are mixed in their reactions to the video.

One comment said: 'That's insanely fast. That far in just a matter of minutes!'

Whereas other views expected more speed, saying: 'Thought it would be way faster than that.'

The video is surprising viewers / spawns / Getty

Another commented: 'This video explanation of light speed may not be the hero we want, but it’s definitely the hero we need.'

It's important to know that light doesn't always travel at the speed of light.

On paper it's 299,792,458 metres per second, which is 671 million miles per hour - or 186,000 miles per second!

Instead, the fastest speed of light we know within a vacuum, and this is the speed illustrated in the video - reaching reaching millions of miles away in minutes.

On planet Earth, there's zero lag. You'll notice this when you flip a switch in your house, and light comes on instantaneously.

But when you look at light in terms of travelling across the vastness of the universe, light doesn't seem to travel at a bolting speed.

For instance, another video helps to visualise how 'slow' light is in real-time by showing light travel from the sun to Jupiter, which takes about 43 minutes. But it all comes down to your starting point.