Can the speed of light change as it enters another medium???

Question

...tom science

Answer 1

The speed of light does depend on the medium in which it travels. See refraction
Refractive Index = Speed of light in Vacuum / Speed of light in Medium

Refractive index = c / v where v
See http://www.onlinephysicshelp.com/refract...

CURIOUS is that the speed of light depends only on the medium it travels through. So when it travels in vacuum it is c, when in glass it is v and when it returns to vacuum it is again c.

While The Michelson-Morley Experiment), by measuring the speed of a beam of light in the detection and against direction of the Earth's rotation, has demonstrated in 1887 no change in speed of light. That suggested that light wave propagates without a medium.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/michelson-m...

However
medium does have effect on its propagation: " The speed of light through a transparent medium (that is, not in vacuum) is less than c; the ratio of c to this speed is called the refractive index of the medium." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/speed_of_li...

I hope that helps.

Answer 2

What is a quantum of light?
Quantum of light is a particle and wave simultaneously.
Exact there is a simultaneity of space and time.
For me such explanation is unsatisfactory.
It just as to speak, that the logic information and
the senseless message are the same simultaneously.
To say half truth is worse then to say lie.
* * *
Quantum of light is a privileged particle.
Only the speed of a light quantum in Vacuum has
a maximal, constant, absolute quantity of c=1.
No other particle can travel with the speed c = 1.
If quantum of light flies always rectilinearly c=1, it is a mad one.
Is he really mad?
* * *
Only the speed of a light quantum has
a absolute quantity of c=1.
No other particle can travel with the speed c = 1.
And I was taught at school from the first class:
that the incommensurable quantities cannot be compared.
To connect incommensurable quantities it
is similar to the decision of a problem:
“What will be if the whale will attacks the elephant?”

Answer 3

Yes;
The change in the speed as a ray enters different mediums is why optics can change the direction of a beam of light. Look up the optics section in a freshmen physics book.

Answer 4

Refractive Index = Speed of light in Vacuum / Speed of light in Medium

Speed of light in Medium is always less than the Speed of light in Vacuum

When it gets out of the medium and enters into vacuum its speed again increases to the speed in vaccuum.

The change in speed is actually induced by delays caused by absorbtion and re-emission in that medium.

Therefore we can say that light travels only in vacuum. It travels in the interspace (free space) between the medium.

When it strikes a medium it is absorbed and re emitted.

In this sense, one can say that light has no speed in materials.

Answer 5

The speed, v, of light as it passes through a medium is c/n, where c is the speed of light in a vacuum and n is the refractive index of that medium. Most materials have an index greater than one, and so light travels slower in those media than in a vacuum.

Answer 6

Yes. Indeed, scientists were able to reduce the speed of light down to about 37 mph. I remember Time magazine comparing that to the speed limit on the New Jersey Turnpike. :-)

Answer 7

Speed of light, "c", is the speed in a vacuum (or space). Any other medium, light is slower (except in Cesium vapors, where it is faster than c).

Answer 8

Yes through objects like water and diamonds and anything else, the speed of light significantly slows down. The speed that we think of, 186,000 mi/second is in a vacuum.

Answer 9

check out this link:

http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/1999/02.18/light.html

Scientists have slowed the speed of light down to
38 mph by using an "exotic medium" (to quote the article)!

Kind of makes you wonder how far away those stars really are!

Answer 10

Yes. Although the change in speed is actually induced by delays caused by absorbtion and re-emission in that medium.