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Through which medium does light pass more quickly, one with a refractive index of 2.0 or one with a refractive index of 3.0?

User Sweetz
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Final answer:

Light travels faster through a medium with a lower refractive index, meaning it would pass more quickly through a medium with a refractive index of 2.0 than one with a refractive index of 3.0.

Step-by-step explanation:

The subject of this question is light transmission speed and refractive index. Refractive index (n) indicates how much a medium slows down the speed of light compared to the speed of light in a vacuum. The speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 3.00 x 108 meters per second (m/s). A medium with a lower refractive index will allow light to pass through it quicker than a medium with a higher refractive index.

Therefore, light passes more quickly through a medium with a refractive index of 2.0 than one with a refractive index of 3.0 because the interaction with the material's atoms and substructures is less, resulting in less slowing of the light.

User SilentKnight
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