Refraction: Does light travel faster in water or air?

Refraction: Does light travel faster in water or air?

A straight stick appears bent when partially immersed in water; the sun appears oval rather than round when it is about to set; a stream may appear to be much shallower than you know it to be. These are some of the effects caused by the refraction of light as it passes at an angle from one medium to another. Light refraction happens every day in almost every little thing, it is an optical illusion. For our science fair project my partners are measuring the refraction of a laser light through different media. While researching this topic we came up with the studies done on this topic, what refraction is, the formulas used to calculate the refraction measurement, etc… Refraction of Visible Light
Lerner, B. W’s article on Refraction: The bending of light (Citation 1) explains the refraction of white light through glass, and how the speed of the light is affected by different media. If light enters a glass at an angle, the glass causes the beam of light to slow down and bend at a deeper angle. Furthermore, the speed of light increases when it travels from a substance of high density to low density, changing its course from its original path of travel. A lot of sites that we researched and visited stated the same thing. The experiment of measuring the speed of light when visible light is passed through a prism (glass) is a common experiment that helps us understand the and speed of light through air. This benefits our project because that is a main thing we are trying to figure out. Light Refraction by a Glass of Water In 1678 Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens postulated that light would travel more slowly through materials having a greater refractive index. (Citation 2)This is defined through this equation: n (Refractive Index) = c/v. While this was not immediately obvious to the majority of the scientific investigators of the time, 150 years after Huygens died his theory was proven correct through experiments. This equation is still being used to this day. Based on this work Snell’s Law was created to describe the relationship between the angles of the two light wave and the indices of refraction of the two materials. This law uses the measurement of the refraction of light to work. Refractive Index (RI) Refractive index is a physical property the measures the bending (refraction) of light as it travels from one medium into another (Citation #3).
The equation for the refractive index is RI = velocity of light in a vacuum/velocity of light in medium =Y. This equation helps describe the result of the light going from one media into another. This is a common equation used when experiments that have light speed or measurements of refraction are involved. This equation also helped to distinguish the wavelength of the visible lights through a glass prism. Light refraction happens every day in almost every little thing, it is an optical illusion.
The refraction of light produces a wide variety of phenomena, including rainbows and curious optical illusions such as making fish appear to be swimming in more shallow water than they really are. Refraction also deceives us into thinking the sun is setting several minutes later than it really does. These laws and equations help us to start to understand these properties of light, and how to control them. This equations and laws that we've researched also just a few of many but are important and needed in order to figure out the things that we need in our project. While there's still things on refraction that scientists need to and will figure out, these work well for now.