Question

The speed of light in a transparent medium is 1.7 x 108 m/s. what is the index of refraction of this medium?

Answer 1

The index of refraction of a medium is defined as

`n= (c)/(v)`
where
c is the speed of light in vacuum
v is the speed of light in the medium

For the medium in our problem,
`v=1.7 \cdot 10^8 m/s`, so if we apply the previous formula we find the index of refraction of the medium:

`n= (c)/(v)= (3 \cdot 10^8 m/s)/(1.7 \cdot 10^8 m/s) =1.76`