What is the speed of light in ethyl alcohol?

Question

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

To determine the speed of light in ethyl alcohol, we recall that light slows down when traveling through a medium, with its speed given by v = c / n, where c is the vacuum speed of light (~3.00 × 10^8 m/s) and n is the refractive index of the medium. Ethyl alcohol (ethanol) has a refractive index around 1.36 to 1.39 depending on wavelength, so v ≈ (3.00 × 10^8 m/s) / (~1.36) ≈ 2.2 × 10^8 m/s.

Option by option:
- Option A: 2.21 × 10^8 m/s. This matches the expected order of magnitude and value derived from c/n with a typical n for ethanol, so it is consistent with the physics of light in a medium. 
- Option B: 1.24 × 10^8 m/s. If this were correct, it would imply a refractive index n ≈ c / v ≈ (3.00 × 10^8) / (1.24 × 10^8) ≈ 2.42, which is far too large for ethanol (typical n is around 1.36–1.39). This makes the number implausible for ethanol and indicates a misunderstanding of the relationship v = c/n. 
- Option C: 2.43 × 10^2 m/s (243 m/s). This is several orders of magnitude smaller than any physically reasonable speed of light in a medium and would imply an extraordinarily high refractive index (~1.23 × 10^6), which is not realistic. This shows a clear numerical error rather than a physical one. 
- Option D: 4.53 × 10^–9 m/s. This is astronomically slow for light and is inconsistent with known electromagnetic wave speeds in any ordinary medium; such an ultra-small value would correspond to an effective refractive index on the order of 10^17, which is not physically meaningful for ethanol.

In summary, the only option that aligns with the standard relation v = c / n and the typical refractive index of ethanol is the ~2.21 × 10^8 m/s value, while the other options are either orders of magnitude too large, too small, or reflect a misunderstanding of the underlying physics.

What is the speed of light in ethyl alcohol?

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