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Physics
Classical Physics
Optics
Why light slows in transparent media
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[QUOTE="Sophrosyne, post: 6185628, member: 601287"] I was watching this video by Don Lincoln, one of the senior researchers at FermiLab, on the the reason light slows down in transparent media (air, water, glass, plastic, etc...). [MEDIA=youtube]CUjt36SD3h8[/MEDIA] He explains that the photons excite the electrons in the medium, which in turn add to the wave (or at least that's what I understand of his explanation). My question is: 1) Why would this slow down the original light wave? Why not have the secondary waves follow the original, like an echo or like a sympathetic vibration? 2) How is this excitation in those electrons occurring? Are they getting bumped up to different orbitals, and then falling back down again, much the same way we see color? Is it that these transparent materials have orbitals that transmit in ALL the different wavelengths of the original light so that none of it is absorbed by the material? [/QUOTE]
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Why light slows in transparent media
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