Explain how Corpuscular theory predicts the speed of light in amedium, say, water, to be greater than the speed of light in vacuum.Is the prediction confirmed by experimental determination of thespeed of light in water? If not, which alternative picture of light isconsistent with experiment?
The corpuscular theory of light states that the light is composed of small particles known as corpuscles. These corpuscles travel in a straight line with the speed of light.
According to this theory, when the light corpuscles strike a surface, or when light is refracted from denser to rarer medium, the particles experience forces of attraction, and these forces are normal to the surface. Thus, the normal component of the velocity increases and the component along the surface remain unchanged.
This can be represented as,
c sin i = v sin r
Where, i is the angle of incidence, r is the angle of reflection, c is the speed of light and v is the velocity of light in water.
The above equation can be written as,
v c = sin i sin r = μ
Where, μ is the refractive index.
Since light is moving from rarer to denser medium, refractive index comes out to be greater than 1, which is not possible.
The speed of light in air is higher than the speed of light in water.
Wave theory is the best explanation of the light particles.
Thus, the light particles as an electromagnetic wave are consistent with the experiment.
The corpuscular theory of light states that the light is composed of small particles known as corpuscles. These corpuscles travel in a straight line with the speed of light.
According to this theory, when the light corpuscles strike a surface, or when light is refracted from denser to rarer medium, the particles experience forces of attraction, and these forces are normal to the surface. Thus, the normal component of the velocity increases and the component along the surface remain unchanged.
This can be represented as,
Where,
The above equation can be written as,
Where,
Since light is moving from rarer to denser medium, refractive index comes out to be greater than 1, which is not possible.
The speed of light in air is higher than the speed of light in water.
Wave theory is the best explanation of the light particles.
Thus, the light particles as an electromagnetic wave are consistent with the experiment.
