hackertube.io

Why is light slower in glass? - Sixty Symbols

Sixty Symbols · explainer · Watch on YouTube

Fundamental physicsEveryday physics & science demos

What it is

Professor Mike Merrifield of Nottingham explains in a mostly uncut conversation why light travels slower in glass. He treats light as a wave and describes how the material's electrons produce secondary waves that combine to slow it.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN cites it whenever the popular absorb-and-re-emit explanation comes up, as a source for the wave-interference account.

  • 1 people recommended it
  • 1 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2018, last 2021

What HN commenters said

  1. “This reminds me of this Sixty Symbols video which explains why light is slower in media such as glass than in a vacuum”

    Explains why light is slower in glass via secondary waves

    7373737373, 2019-12 · Recommendation · in “New Material Breaks World Record Turning Heat into Electricity”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: refraction, speed of light, optics, wave physics, phase velocity

Also recommended by the same people