I am trying to measure the speed of light in jello, using a laser pointer. How do I find out the speed of light through it?
You can't. What you are up against is light ABSORPTION, light REFLECTION, and light REFRACTION, which will negate any meaningful attempt at speed determination. All of these would be affected by the color of the jello, amount of air suspended, and any difractive or reflective solids suspended in the block of Jello. Any vibrations imparted to the block of jello would also change the density in an unpredictable and unquantifiable way. The speed of light depends on the medium through which the light travels. In empty space, the speed is 186,000 (1.86 X 105) miles per second. It is almost the same in air. In water, it slows down to approximately 140,000 (1.4 X 105) miles per second. In glass, the speed of light is 124,000 (1.24 X 105) miles per second. In other words, the speed of light decreases as the density of the substance through which the light passes increases.
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I would use index of refraction, and angles, as compared to an empirical repeat of the michaelson-morely experiment. Its not like you have thousands of cubic yards of jello available to work with.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_of_refraction
References :
You can't. What you are up against is light ABSORPTION, light REFLECTION, and light REFRACTION, which will negate any meaningful attempt at speed determination. All of these would be affected by the color of the jello, amount of air suspended, and any difractive or reflective solids suspended in the block of Jello. Any vibrations imparted to the block of jello would also change the density in an unpredictable and unquantifiable way. The speed of light depends on the medium through which the light travels. In empty space, the speed is 186,000 (1.86 X 105) miles per second. It is almost the same in air. In water, it slows down to approximately 140,000 (1.4 X 105) miles per second. In glass, the speed of light is 124,000 (1.24 X 105) miles per second. In other words, the speed of light decreases as the density of the substance through which the light passes increases.
References :