Just to be pedantic, you cannot slow down the speed of light. The reason glass and other materials appear to slow it down is because of the time it takes for photons to be absorbed and reemitted by molecules the material is made of

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Originally posted by Grrrrr Just to be pedantic, you cannot slow down the speed of light. The reason glass and other materials appear to slow it down is because of the time it takes for photons to be absorbed and reemitted by molecules the material is made of

Well Duhhhhhh!

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The speed of light in water is different from the speed in air. Light speed depends of the material it passes thrue. However, light speed in vaccuum is constant and can't be changed. n00b

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Originally posted by Grrrrr Just to be pedantic, you cannot slow down the speed of light. The reason glass and other materials appear to slow it down is because of the time it takes for photons to be absorbed and reemitted by molecules the material is made of

the speed that light travels fluctuates quite often depending upon what materials the light passes through.

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Originally posted by Tiger777 The speed of light in water is different from the speed in air. Light speed depends of the material it passes thrue. However, light speed in vaccuum is constant and can't be changed. n00b

Materials such as water are made up of particals. Here is how a photon travels from one end of a drop of water to another (same principle for other materials)

A random photon hits the first partical on the outside of this drop of water and gets absorbed by the partical giving it more energy. This excess energy is then released as another photon.

This newly emitted photon then travels through a very very small gap (vaccuum) to the next partical. When travelling through this 'gap' the light travels at its full and only possible speed.

It hits the next partical increasing it's energy and once again a new photon is emitted, travelling through another gap to the next partical

etc etc etc


The photon never travels any slower than 'the speed of light' (that sounds a little silly but you know what i mean. The reason it appears to travel slower it because of the time takne for the photon to be absorbed and a new one to be emitted by each of the particals it come in contact with


'n00b'

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Originally posted by D-res the speed that light travels fluctuates quite often depending upon what materials the light passes through.

wrong

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c = 3.0 x 10^8 m/s = speed of light in a VACUUM

since there is matter all over the place, it usually isnt as fast as it could go in a vacuum.

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Originally posted by ::TranceVanDyk:: c = 3.0 x 10^8 m/s = speed of light in a VACUUM since there is matter all over the place, it usually isnt as fast as it could go in a vacuum.

Did you even read my posts?

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Originally posted by Grrrrr Did you even read my posts?

you didn't support your argument. you just said wrong.

i guess im wrong. at least i know what the speed of light is.

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Originally posted by Grrrrr Materials such as water are made up of particals. Here is how a photon travels from one end of a drop of water to another (same principle for other materials) A random photon hits the first partical on the outside of this drop of water and gets absorbed by the partical giving it more energy. This excess energy is then released as another photon. This newly emitted photon then travels through a very very small gap (vaccuum) to the next partical. When travelling through this 'gap' the light travels at its full and only possible speed. It hits the next partical increasing it's energy and once again a new photon is emitted, travelling through another gap to the next partical etc etc etc The photon never travels any slower than 'the speed of light' (that sounds a little silly but you know what i mean. The reason it appears to travel slower it because of the time takne for the photon to be absorbed and a new one to be emitted by each of the particals it come in contact with 'n00b'

This is correct, if a little beside the point.

The real discovery here is not the ability to "slow down" light, that's been done many times - in fact light has even been "stopped" in a laboratory setting:
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette...-stoplight.html

The difference is that IBM is accomplishing this with a significantly different technique: one which is far more suitable for integration into hardware to be mass produced.