I recently read that the speed of light is approximately equal to going around the Earth 7 times in one second. If that is true, how can I turn on a flashlight at night and immediately see the light beam coming from its source, the flashlight? (ie, Why isn't the light so fast, it still looks "dark"?) The only idea I originally came up with is dust particles, etc., causing the light to be "slowed" via deflection, but if that were what was causing me to see the beam, I find it hard to believe it would remain in a "straight" form instead of dispersed over a wider, varied area. I understand that the light source is continuous, so for each "second" that passes, I would be seeing light that was emitted over various intervals of time, and therefore at various places in space - but it just seems that at light speed, they wouldn't be visible. What am I missing?

Thanks for any insight....(pun intended.... =)

okay, i am unqualified to answer really,
but the light you are seeing is just delayed.
when you turn the flashlight off for a few
really REALLY small fractions of time you
are seeing light that is 'dead' or nonexistant in that
moment. but your eyes/brain can't catch up that fast.
like we can see the light of dead stars. they are in the past.

but i wonder if that means everything we see is a little bit
older than we think....? (or can perceive)

I think the flashlight is continuously illuminating the dust particles in the air. The light reflects off them and to your eyes, at the speed of light. Even at that great speed, your eye’s retina processes the incoming light to develop an image in your brain. Absent the light hitting something like dust, you wouldn’t see the light beam and the light would disperse less.

If the flashlight beam just reduces to particle reflections, and particles such as dust are random in composition, density, position, etc., it's hard for me to understand how a beam appears to be so well defined - especially the edges.

Anyway, thank you for your responses.

I still don't understand your original question, but as to why the beam of light has a defined edge, there's a certain boundary where both light bouncing off the parabolic mirror behind the bulb and light coming directly from the bulb will not travel. So the shape of the mirror and where the bulb is located inside determines the shape of the light cone. If light doesn't hit dust/dew, then you won't see the beam there. It's the same reason why you won't see light 90 degrees to the side of the flashlight - because light is blocked from that area.