All Questions
Tagged with refraction special-relativity
68
questions
8
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Special Relativity, refractive index and catching up with a wave
Einstein was partially motivated by the following: With Maxwell's equations, a plane wave is a sinusoidal wave that varies in space in time and moving with speed $c$. These variations are linked by ...
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Would forcing a photon to travel under $c$ even after it leaves a medium break Relativity? [duplicate]
So, I stumbled onto this article which really blew my mind (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-30944584). To sum it up, these researchers set up some kind of material that slowed a ...
- 1,666
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3
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If light slows down while passing through a material, does it speed back up while in a vacuum?
Light slows down while passing through, say, water. After passing through the water, does the light speed back up to the "speed of light"? If so, how and why?
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2
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2
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Special Relativity in water
If there are 2 observers in water moving relative to each other as well as to water, they measure different speeds of light. So does time dilation occur for them? (since Time dilation is based on ...
9
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3
answers
294
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Alongside a light ray (in another medium)
It is a said fact that the speed of light is insurmountable. But can the validity of this fact be questioned in another medium?
If I pass a beam of light in, say water (here the light speed is ...
- 1,630
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3
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The speed of light/EM waves in vacuum; as if there was another one in non-vacuum?
Q1: is there a speed of a photon other than in "vacuum"?
Q2: isn't "speed of light in vacuum" misleading?
If I understand, that light moves with speed of light until there is "something in between" ...
- 113
1
vote
1
answer
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Do the mediums decrease or increase the speed of light? (source to target) [duplicate]
If sun is the source of light then is it possible that the speed of light might increase depending on the mediums its going through or its not possible.
4
votes
3
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Is it true that all particles that have a speed less than the speed of light must also have mass?
I've previously learned that massive particles cannot achieve the speed of light.
But recently I read that, concerning the gels that refract and bounce light within around enough that it can travel ...
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2
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Does the speed of light have a range of speeds due to medium-dependency?
An EM particle-wave propagates in a vacuum at a constant speed $c$, independent of the source/receiver but dependent on most mediums it moves through. Since the vacuum is a medium, and if logically ...
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votes
5
answers
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How is it possible for the wavelength of light to change in a medium?
So my physics class has just finished a long unit on optics while at the same time I've been trying to teach myself relativity. I admit my understanding is probably rudimentary, but I figured all the ...
- 51
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4
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Does time pass slowly in water?
In water the speed of light is slower than it is in vacuum. By special relativity the speed of light is constant. Typically, for the basic explanation of special relativity a clock which has a mirror ...
- 661
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1
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Is the speed of photon always $c_0$? [duplicate]
The propagation of light in medium is sometimes interpreted as the photons moving with $c_0$ (the speed of light in vacuum), occasionally absorbed by particles and released again by transition, ...
- 1,168
2
votes
0
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286
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Can time pass for a photon if it's moving in a medium? [duplicate]
If time does not pass for a photon traveling at the speed of light, which can only occur when traveling in a vacuum, what happens when it is slowed down by traveling through non vacuum space like ...
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votes
2
answers
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Refractive index of dielectric in different frames of reference
The setup
A transparent isotropic dielectric medium moving in the negative $x'$ direction at speed $v$ in frame $S'$ is stationary in frame $S$, where it has refractive index $n$. In other words, ...
- 6,425
1
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1
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Does the light speed change in media? [duplicate]
Does the light speed change? The Theory of Relativity says that the speed of light in vacuum is the same and unchangeable, while I read that the speed of light in glass is lower than in air, and that ...
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