romesh Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 I have a question regarding refraction. I want to know the reason for the decrease in the speed of light in mediums like air, water, kerosene etc... If you could help me I would also like to know the reason as to why some mediums are opticaly rarer and some opticaly denser. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StringJunky Posted August 27, 2012 Share Posted August 27, 2012 The apparent slowdown is caused by the additive time effects of absorption and emission of a photon through consecutive molecules in its path. In a transparent medium the absorbed photon transfers insufficient energy to an electron to enable it to overcome the energy threshold that would allow to go the next higher energy level or orbital...if it did the material would be classed as opaque. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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