Temperature’s Effect on the Speed of Light
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Authors
Xie, Anne
Chu, Jessica
Xie, Luyao
Zhao, Kun
Date
2021-05-04
Type
technical report
Language
en
Keyword
Research Subject Categories::NATURAL SCIENCES::Physics::Condensed matter physics
Alternative Title
Abstract
In this experiment, our group investigates the effect of temperature on the speed of light by experimentally measuring the change in the angle of refraction through common glass over a 100C range in temperature while simultaneously running simulations on Comsol with silica glass to compare results. Both results from the experiments and simulations confirmed the linear relationship between temperature and the speed of light travelling through glass. Although the simulation agreed with our predication where the speed of light shows an inverse linear relationship to temperature, the experimental findings show a linearly proportional relation. The differing results are due to the fact that the experiments used common glass and the simulations used silica glass. Both results are consistent with theoretical values as temperature’s relation to speed of light through glass can be linearly proportional or inversely proportional, depending on the type of glass used.