• Edge004@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    The medium that the laser goes through could slow it down, but it would still be insanely fast.

    • dave@feddit.uk
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      3 months ago

      It would also still be the speed of light. Always is, unless you specify ‘in a vacuum’ every time.

      • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Adding to the fun - The light is still going the same speed within the medium, but it’s bumping into more things. Those collisions divert the light, lengthening the distance it travels through something like 1 cm of glass vs 1 cm in a vacuum. It changes the time it takes to travel through glass rather than the speed at which the light is moving.

        At least that’s what I remember from a YouTube video.

      • KubeRoot@discuss.tchncs.de
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        3 months ago

        The real fun starts when things move faster than the speed of light, that’s when you get Cherenkov radiation!