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Light travels the same speed through a vacuum at all wavelengths, but when we send the light through something other then a vacuum, like glass we see that light bends/slows, this is seen through snells law below:
n1*sin[theta1] = n2*sin[theta2]
The parts of the equation n1 & n2 are called the index of refraction, this is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum divided by speed of light in that substance, so an index of refraction of 1 means that you are in a vacuum, because the speed of light travels the same speed it would in a vacuum. But if you send light through water, water has an index of refraction and light slows down. The process of light slowing down bends the angle at which the direct ray of light travels, so the MORE light slows down the MORE it bends, now say you have a drop of water suspended in a vacuum above your head, white light [which is composed of all frequencies of visible light] hits this clear drop of water and is slowed down and bends, but the different frequencies of light that compose the white light bend different amounts [this amount is small but visible from a distance] the lower frequency light is less affected by the drop of water as it has a longer wavelenght and oscillates a lesser amount of times through the distance of the water drop, the higher frequency light oscillates many times through the same water drop and is slowed down more because of it, so it bends more. This process is called diffraction and causes the spectrum of colors in white light to diffract when sent through matter. the blue light [higher frequency] is bent more and the red light is bend less and through this distance of bending is a gradient of light that we call a rainbow.
So, the speed of light is the same for all frequencies in a vacuum BUT when you send light through matter is slows down a certain amount, red light [lower frequency] travels faster than blue light [higher frequency].
The lower frequencies are affected less by traveling through matter, this is why infrared light is used in fiber optics as opposed to ultraviolet or visible light.
Using the Acronym "ROYGBIV" [red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet], those are the colors of the spectrum from lowest frequency to highest frequency, so red light travels faster then all the colors that have higher frequency that it.
So to sum up....
RED is proven to be fastest!
Courtesy of RT/10 Dave from the UK VCA site.
Light travels the same speed through a vacuum at all wavelengths, but when we send the light through something other then a vacuum, like glass we see that light bends/slows, this is seen through snells law below:
n1*sin[theta1] = n2*sin[theta2]
The parts of the equation n1 & n2 are called the index of refraction, this is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum divided by speed of light in that substance, so an index of refraction of 1 means that you are in a vacuum, because the speed of light travels the same speed it would in a vacuum. But if you send light through water, water has an index of refraction and light slows down. The process of light slowing down bends the angle at which the direct ray of light travels, so the MORE light slows down the MORE it bends, now say you have a drop of water suspended in a vacuum above your head, white light [which is composed of all frequencies of visible light] hits this clear drop of water and is slowed down and bends, but the different frequencies of light that compose the white light bend different amounts [this amount is small but visible from a distance] the lower frequency light is less affected by the drop of water as it has a longer wavelenght and oscillates a lesser amount of times through the distance of the water drop, the higher frequency light oscillates many times through the same water drop and is slowed down more because of it, so it bends more. This process is called diffraction and causes the spectrum of colors in white light to diffract when sent through matter. the blue light [higher frequency] is bent more and the red light is bend less and through this distance of bending is a gradient of light that we call a rainbow.
So, the speed of light is the same for all frequencies in a vacuum BUT when you send light through matter is slows down a certain amount, red light [lower frequency] travels faster than blue light [higher frequency].
The lower frequencies are affected less by traveling through matter, this is why infrared light is used in fiber optics as opposed to ultraviolet or visible light.
Using the Acronym "ROYGBIV" [red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet], those are the colors of the spectrum from lowest frequency to highest frequency, so red light travels faster then all the colors that have higher frequency that it.
So to sum up....
RED is proven to be fastest!
Courtesy of RT/10 Dave from the UK VCA site.