[NatureNS] Faster than light ?

Date: Sun, 4 May 2014 18:55:26 -0300
From: Larry Bogan <larry@bogan.ca>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
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Andrew

The charged particle iteracts differently than a photon with the material through which they passing and it can travel faster than the speed of light in the material (not faster than c, the speed of light in a vacuum)

The photon is better represented as an electromagnetic wave and the wave polarizes the atoms in the material and is re-emitted light such that the net result is that it is travels at less than the speed c in the medium. But it does not keep losing speed. It's speed is the speed of light, c, divided by the index of refraction.

The charged particle moving near (but less than) the speed of light interacts  weakly with the atoms but does slow down gradually.  Eventually, of course it stops as it loses all of its energy BUT there is a period when it is moving faster than the speed of light in the material.

////// === ///////
Larry Bogan 
Brooklyn Corner, Nova Scotia
<larry@bogan.ca>

On Sun, 4 May 2014 21:00:58 +0000
"Hebda, Andrew J" <HEBDAAJ@gov.ns.ca> wrote:

> Any charged particle would have a mass greater than that of a photon, I would assume, so it would lose that race.  IMHO
> 
> Andrew
> 
> 
> ________________________________________
> From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] on behalf of David & Alison Webster [dwebster@glinx.com]
> Sent: May-04-14 10:33 AM
> To: NatureNS@chebucto.ns.ca
> Subject: [NatureNS] Faster than light ?
> 
> Dear All,                            May 4, 2014
>     In a 1981 Popular Science I noticed the following: "When protons in
> water decay, scientists believe, they produce electrically charged particles
> that travel faster than lights does."; presumably speed of light in water.
>     Has this been verified and are there other examples where light loses
> the race ?
> Yt, Dave Webster, Kentville
> 

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