Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Jay-qu
...do a search on cherenkov light, ...
|
You would have to bring up Cherenkov light, or as it was originally called, Bremmstrallung, which is German for "braking radiation". As it was taught in college in the 70's, a particle traveling very close to the speed of light (c) could enter a material, such as glass or a crystal, where the LOCAL speed of light (cL) was
less than the speed of the particle.
cL, it turns out, is a function of the Index of Refraction (Ir) of a material. So, cL in glass = c/(Ir of glass).
The particle finds itself in violation of local speed laws! (And this is where everything gets hazy) The particle then "brakes" down to a speed just under cL, by giving off photons--Cherenkov light. But this leaves big questions. How far does the particle enter the material before it "knows" the cL has dropped? Does the particle actually travel at speeds > cL for some tiny distance before its Cherenkov light brakes it to a lower speed? Is this even possible to conjecture? HOW does the particle know what cL is? And on and on and on...
