If the refractive index of a medium is greater than 1, what happens to the wavel
Practice Questions
Q1
If the refractive index of a medium is greater than 1, what happens to the wavelength of light in that medium compared to its wavelength in vacuum?
It increases
It decreases
It remains the same
It becomes zero
Questions & Step-by-Step Solutions
If the refractive index of a medium is greater than 1, what happens to the wavelength of light in that medium compared to its wavelength in vacuum?
Step 1: Understand what refractive index means. It is a number that tells us how much light slows down in a medium compared to vacuum.
Step 2: Know that the refractive index (n) is always greater than 1 for any medium other than vacuum.
Step 3: Remember the formula for the wavelength of light in a medium: λ' = λ/n, where λ' is the wavelength in the medium, λ is the wavelength in vacuum, and n is the refractive index.
Step 4: Since n is greater than 1, when you divide λ by n, the result (λ') will be smaller than λ.
Step 5: Conclude that the wavelength of light decreases when it enters a medium with a refractive index greater than 1.
Refractive Index – The refractive index (n) of a medium indicates how much light slows down and changes wavelength when entering that medium compared to a vacuum.
Wavelength Change – The relationship between the wavelength of light in a vacuum (λ) and in a medium (λ') is inversely proportional to the refractive index (n), expressed as λ' = λ/n.
