Things can travel faster than light and light doesn?t always travel very fast...

New kid on the Block

Posted on
12 Sep 2011 10:11:24 IST
Posts: 14
12 Sep 2011 10:11:24 IST
0 people liked this
0
638 View Post
Things can travel faster than light and light doesn?t always travel very fast...

The speed of light in a vacuum is a constant: 300,000,000m per second. However, light does not always travel through vacuum.In water, for example, photons travel at around three-quarters that speed.

In nuclear reactors, some particles are forced up to very high speeds, often within a fraction of the speed of light. If they are passing through an insulating medium that slows light down, they can actually travel faster than the light around them.

When this happens, they cause a blue glow, known as cherenkov radiation, which is (sort of) comparable to a sonic boom but with light. This is why nuclear reactors glow in the dark.

Incidentally, the slowest light has ever been recorded travelling was 17 meters per second – about 38 miles an hour – through rubidium cooled to almost absolute zero, when it forms a strange state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate.

Light has also been brought to a complete stop in the same fashion, but since that wasn't moving at all, that cant be described as the slowest trvelling of light....

Share this article on:

Quick Reply


Reply

Some HTML allowed.
Keep your comments above the belt or risk having them deleted.
Signup for a avatar to have your pictures show up by your comment
If Members see a thread that violates the Posting Rules, bring it to the attention of the Moderator Team
Free Sign Up!

Preparing for IIT-JEE ?

Arihant Revision Package for IIT JEE - Books, Practice Tests + Rank Predictor


@ INR 1,995/-

For Quick Info

Name

Mobile No.

Sponsored Ads