The speed of light in air is 3 x 108ms-1. What is the speed in glass with a refractive index of 1.50?
Answer Details
The speed of light changes as it passes through different media with different refractive indices. The refractive index of a medium is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in that medium. The formula for finding the speed of light in a medium is:
Speed of light in a medium = (Speed of light in a vacuum) / (Refractive index of the medium)
In this question, the speed of light in air is given as 3 x 10^8 ms^-1, and the refractive index of the glass is given as 1.50. So, we can use the formula to find the speed of light in glass:
Speed of light in glass = (Speed of light in air) / (Refractive index of glass)
= (3 x 10^8) / 1.50
= 2 x 10^8 ms^-1
Therefore, the answer is option C, 2.0 x 10^8 ms^-1.