Calculate the speed of light in ethyl alcohol (n=1.52).
how about c = 3*10^8 m/s
divide that by 1.52
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To calculate the speed of light in ethyl alcohol, we can use Snell's Law, which relates the speed of light in a medium to the refractive index of the medium.
Snell's Law is given by: n₁ * sin(θ₁) = n₂ * sin(θ₂)
Here, n₁ is the refractive index of the initial medium, θ₁ is the angle of incidence, n₂ is the refractive index of the final medium (in this case, ethyl alcohol), and θ₂ is the angle of refraction.
Since we are dealing with light traveling from vacuum or air (where the refractive index is very close to 1) into ethyl alcohol, we can assume that θ₁ is close to zero, meaning that the light ray travels perpendicular to the interface. In this case, sin(θ₁) becomes 0, simplifying the equation to: 0 = n₂ * sin(θ₂)
Since sin(θ₂) can never be zero (as it would mean the light would not bend at all), we can conclude that n₂ also equals zero.
Hence, the speed of light in ethyl alcohol is zero.