Comment on I can whistle at the speed of sound
dev_null@lemmy.ml 1 month agoIt’s still travelling at c, it’s just bouncing around the medium’s particles on the way. It arrives later because it’s not going in a straight line.
Comment on I can whistle at the speed of sound
dev_null@lemmy.ml 1 month agoIt’s still travelling at c, it’s just bouncing around the medium’s particles on the way. It arrives later because it’s not going in a straight line.
qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 1 month ago
I don’t think that’s a great way of thinking about it. I think you’re describing something more like scattering — or maybe absorption and stimulated or spontaneous emission — which does indeed happen, but is distinct from the index of a medium.
If it were indeed “bouncing,” optics wouldn’t really work, as any n > 0 medium would cause the light to go every which way.
SirSmokeAlot@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
If you fire a laser that goes first through vacuum, then through a lens, then again in vacuum, at what speed is the light travelling on the other side?
qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 1 month ago
It’s same as it was at first. The speed of light depends on the index of refraction of the medium it’s in, but doesn’t depend on its “history.”
SirSmokeAlot@lemmy.ml 1 month ago
I didn’t write it out, but what I was trying to get at was that if it would “slow down”, then it would be slower on the other side. The explanation that the light travels longer through a medium with the same speed would therefore make sense to me.
But then again, how it wouldn’t shoot out in every direction, that doesn’t make sense to me.
I don’t know much about light, that’s why i’m asking. And i’m sure some article or paper would have anwers for that question, I might search it on my own.