B Does Atmosphere Dilation Affect Sunlight Travel Time? | Explained

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    Atmosphere Dilation
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Light from the sun takes approximately 8 minutes to reach Earth, and the atmosphere does not significantly delay this travel time. The troposphere, which is the densest part of the atmosphere, is only about 7 miles thick compared to the 90 million miles light travels. Any potential slowing effect from the atmosphere would need to be extreme to be noticeable. The refractive index of air is nearly 1, meaning light travels through it at over 99% of its speed in a vacuum. Therefore, the atmosphere does not cause a significant delay in sunlight reaching Earth.
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Light from the sun takes about 8 mins to reach the earth. But does the time get delayed appreciably due to Earth's atmosphere??
Thanks in advance !
 
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No.
 
Bystander said:
No.
Can you please elaborate it ?? Thanks btw! :smile:
 
The densest portion of the atmosphere, the troposphere, is roughly 7 miles thick and contains 80% of its mass. Seven miles is an utterly tiny distance compared to the 90 million miles light has to travel to get from the Sun to the Earth, so any slowing effect would have to be extreme in order to have an appreciable effect. However, the refractive index of air is very close to 1, so light's speed through air is still more than 99% of its speed through the vacuum of space. Long story short, there's no significant delay caused by the atmosphere.
 
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:smile:Thanks perfectly clear to me now !
 

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