Question

Why would you expect the speed of light to be slightly less in the atmosphere than in a vacuum?

Answer 1

Because speed of light in atmosphere has to pass through rarer and denser medium as well but in vacuum there are no particles to obstruct the speed of light.

Answer 2

Concept Introduction:

The speed of an item, which is a scalar quantity in everyday usage and kinematics, is the size of the change in that object's motion over a period or the size of the change in that amount that exceeds per unit of time.

Explanation:

We have been given a question about the speed of light.

We have to find the reason for the speed of light to be slightly less in the atmosphere than in a vacuum.

Since the speed of light must also pass through a rarer and denser material in the atmosphere, there are no particulates in a vacuum to slow down the speed of light.

Final Answer:

The final answer is the speed of light must also pass through a rarer and denser material in the atmosphere.

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