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What factors affect the index of a refraction of liquid?

How does index of refraction affect speed of light?

  • How does index of refraction affect speed of light?

  • Answer:

    Recall that when light travels from a less dense to a more dense medium, ITS SPEED IS REDUCED. That is why a ray of light, entering say a block of glass from the air, at some angle, changes its direction. As each part of the wave front touches the glass, it gets slowed, but the part that is still in the air is still travelling at its normal speed. Thus the ray changes direction. The refractive index is a measure of how MUCH the ray gets bent, which is the same as measuring how much it slows down. It can be found from Snell's law but it is also given by Refractive index = (Velocity of light in medium) / (Velocity of light in air) Hope this helps.

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v = c/n v = effective velocity c = speed of light in vacuum n = medium dependent factor The "speed of light" is constant though. If light is traveling through a medium at something "slower" than the speed in a vacuum it's because the photons are being absorbed and re-emittetd by stuff in the medium. It's still moving at the speed of light, but there are obstacles in the way that convert the energy into electron orbital energy and back into photons.

Frank

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