jerryyu Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 when light slows down in a glass tube, will its wavelengths change or stay the same? since light slows down in a glass/a different medium, shouldn't its wavelengths changes accordingly to it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swansont Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 The wavelength in a medium is lambda/n, where n is the index of refraction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajb Posted September 27, 2010 Share Posted September 27, 2010 Just to add to what swansont has said: The refractive index can be understood as [math]n = \frac{\textnormal{speed of light in vacuum}}{\textnormal{speed of light in medium}}[/math]. For pyrex we have [math]n= 1.474[/math], for common glasses [math]n = 1.52-1.62[/math]. You can now explore this with some numerical examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emrekanca Posted September 28, 2010 Share Posted September 28, 2010 (edited) According to formula Speed=frequancy*wavelengt frequancy is fixed and glass decreases the speed. So wavelenght will be decreased. Edited September 28, 2010 by emrekanca Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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