Time of flight

Time of flight refers to the time it takes for something to travel a certain distance. Picture yourself at a park, and you're playing catch with your friend. When you throw the ball, it takes a certain amount of time to reach your friend. This is known as the time of flight.

Now, imagine you have a special toy that shoots a beam of light instead of throwing a ball. When you turn on the toy and aim it at a wall, the beam of light will travel a certain distance before hitting the wall. The amount of time it takes the beam of light to travel that distance is known as its time of flight.

Time of flight is important in many different fields. For example, it's used in airplane navigation systems, where sensors measure the time it takes for radio waves to bounce off the ground and return to the plane. This helps the pilot to determine the plane's altitude and location. It's also used in medical imaging, like ultrasound, where sound waves are sent from a machine into a person's body, and the time it takes for the waves to bounce back can help create an image of what's inside.

Overall, time of flight is simply the time it takes for something to travel a set distance, and it can be used to measure distance, location, and even create images.