Blue Light

The wavelength of blue light changes from 4.7 × 1 0 7 4.7 \times 10^{-7} m to 3.5 × 1 0 7 3.5 \times 10^{-7} m as it passes from air to water.

What is the speed of this light in water?

Source: Cambridge IGCSE Physics - Multiple Choice (March 2020)

1.3 × 1 0 8 1.3 \times 10^{8} m/s 2.2 × 1 0 8 2.2 \times 10^{8} m/s 3.0 × 1 0 8 3.0 \times 10^{8} m/s 7.4 × 1 0 7 7.4 \times 10^{7} m/s

This section requires Javascript.
You are seeing this because something didn't load right. We suggest you, (a) try refreshing the page, (b) enabling javascript if it is disabled on your browser and, finally, (c) loading the non-javascript version of this page . We're sorry about the hassle.

1 solution

Karan Chatrath
Apr 3, 2021

We know that for a light wave: v = f λ v = f \lambda where f f is the frequency and λ \lambda is the wavelength. Now, as light passes from one medium to another, its frequency remains unchanged since the frequency of the wave depends on the light source itself. What does change is the wavelength. Let the speed of blue light in air and its corresponding wavelength be v 1 v_1 and λ 1 \lambda_1 respectively. Let the speed of blue light in water and its corresponding wavelength be v 2 v_2 and λ 2 \lambda_2 respectively. Then:

v 1 = f λ 1 v_1 = f\lambda_1 v 2 = f λ 2 v_2 = f \lambda_2

Dividing both equations and rearranging:

v 2 = v 1 λ 2 λ 1 2.2 × 1 0 8 m / s \implies v_2 = \frac{v_1 \lambda_2}{\lambda_1} \approx 2.2 \times 10^{8} \ \mathrm{m/s}

Thanks for your solution! 👍

Ethan Mandelez - 2 months, 1 week ago

0 pending reports

×

Problem Loading...

Note Loading...

Set Loading...