Light is travelling in quartz, which has an index of refraction of 1.458. How fast does light travel in quartz?

1 Answer
Apr 1, 2018

Approximately 2.06*10^8 meters per second.

Explanation:

Well, the equation for the refractive index is:

n=c/v

  • c is the speed of light in a vacuum

  • v is the speed of light through the medium

And so, we get,

1.458=(3*10^8 \ "m/s")/v

v=(3*10^8 \ "m/s")/(1.458)

~~2.06*10^8 \ "m/s"