Understanding the Speed and Behavior of Light in Different Mediums

[burtbhs]

Hey Blacksheepdork

look what you started! the world is full of questions and answers! Boy does the physics teacher have a thing or two to learn also.

 

[Hurkyl]

Actually, that's an interesting question, Integral.

I had been implicitly presuming the same thing; I was talking about how "easy" it is to reemit the energy in a particular direction, but kept tacit the law of large numbers which (kinda sorta) states that the net result is predominately the easiest one.


But... some of the interesting QM experiments seem to say otherwise. For instance, in the famous experiments involving half-silvered mirrors, photons are said to either be transmitted through the mirror, or to be perfectly reflected via incidence = reflection...


I guess (I think) it falls down to the fact that the photon is really the center of probability for a wave packet, so by definition it follows perfectly the expected behavior.

Hurkyl

 

[CJames]

Well, in a vacuum a photon isn't following that random a path, right? Obviously, it's not following a simple angle of incidence, since it's actually a complex wavefunction, but each imaginary particle in the wavefunction I would expect reflects the way you expect it. That's how it seems to me anyway. Not that I wouldn't be interested in reading that book, but it doesn't feel to me like this entire thread is on shaky ground...'course that's me

Take care.