Concept explainers
Light requires about 8 minutes to travel from the sun to the earth. Is it delayed appreciably by the earth’s atmosphere? Explain.
To determine: Whether the light requires about
Explanation of Solution
Explanation:
The speed of light in a medium is,
The refractive index of the air is,
The refractive index of the vacuum is,
The speed of light is,
The speed of the light in vacuum is
Substitute
Refractive index of air is greater than the vacuum. The speed of light has an inverse relation with the refractive index. Hence, velocity of the light in air is decreased in earth’s atmosphere. Hence, the time taken by light from sun to earth is a little more than the time taken, if there were no atmosphere.
Conclusion:
The Light requires about
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