I know it's possible to slow light down in a medium to a point where you can see it moving. However, the speed of light remaind 3x108... what's really going on?
2006-11-06 10:21:32 · 4 answers · asked by interested_party 4 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Actually - me ol' mateys - go read your physics textbooks a bit more thoroughly. the speed of light is constant. Once the light leaves the medium it goes back to 3x108... Go think about it a bit more.
2006-11-06 11:01:10 · update #1
why does it slow down during the time it spends in other mediums?
2006-11-06 11:04:52 · update #2
All materials have what is called a "refractive index" which is determined by the speed at which light travels through. This is similar to how the speed of sound varies between materials (hard wood vs air).
The speed of like that you state, 3*10^8 m/s is the speed of light in a vacuum, and only a vacuum.
The reason the speed of light varies between materials is how light interacts with the atoms in these materials. You see, the way light travels through materials is by getting absorbed by atoms and re-emitted. The energy of an atom rises temporarily. As the energy falls again, the photon is re-emitted out the atom.
The amount of time it takes for an atom of a substance to do so determines how fast light travels through that substance. This is because the light is just getting absorbed and emitted to be absorbed by the next atom, in a chain!
This difference in speed accounts for why materials refract light. Without this property, eye glasses, lenses, etc won't work. It is also why things in the water appear distorted etc.
In a vacuum, however, we cannot change the speed of light, it is a constant.
2006-11-06 10:33:32 · answer #1 · answered by polloloco.rb67 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Actually the speed of light is only 3x10^8 (or thereabouts) in a vacuum. You are right to the extent that light does slow down in different media. I don't recall any experiment where light has ever been observed moving. What is really going on is that the speed of light is determined by the refractive index of a medium (I don't recall the formula, sorry, it is probably something like v = cxi where v is the speed in the medium and i is the refractive index and c is the speed of light in a vacuum!)
2006-11-06 10:36:08 · answer #2 · answered by Mez 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sorry, you're off. Time easily strikes on the comparable value, extremely. What I recommend is that in case you have been with the clock that replaced into shifting close to easy velocity(if it easily moved at easy velocity it would convert to uncooked capability and be lost.. as a clock) it would seem as though basically 10 seconds had handed ( you will possibly basically age 10 seconds ), yet on earth your twin might age lots extra. it somewhat is somewhat annoying to charm to close the "why" of this, yet while the best talkin monkey that ever lived believed it(Einstein) we small brainers are only gonna would desire to settle for it. the weird and wonderful section is that in case you went for a trip at close to easy velocity for say a twelve months, the human race would destroy itself on your absence( it may be like a pair thousand years later or so....).all human beings you comprehend could have perished of previous age, notwithstanding if we controlled to stay alive as a race.
2016-10-21 09:27:44 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you can see light actually moving then you have the best eyes in the world....because I don't think anyone else can.
2006-11-06 10:28:39 · answer #4 · answered by Shaun 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋