You can actually bring the speed of light down to that of sound with a bit of clever physics and prove it absorbs and reemits at each and every atom point in the media
(http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-07-scientists.html)

CSharpner gets the theory right in the comments

When light moves through a medium, each photon is absorbed by an electron in the median, stored for a (very) short while, then it (or a new photon, with identical quantum properties) is then emitted in the same direction. Between electrons, it's moving through empty space and travels at full speed (c). The repetitive stalls while each photon is absorbed by electrons causes more and more of a delay. The light, itself, never slows down. When an electron absorbs a photon, the photon ceases to be "light" and instead is an electron with a higher energy state. Eventually, the electron loses the higher energy state, creating a new photon. While it's a photon, it's always traveling at c.

Photon @ c -> high energy electron state (delay) -> photon @ c, etc...


Prediction and experimental verification I am not sure you can do much better than that unless you want to try and explain the result some other way.

You have two things to consider the light moves at one speed if you dont rotate the glass and this really slow speed if you do ... why if you have a different theory?


Last edited by Orac; 07/18/11 06:37 AM.

I believe in "Evil, Bad, Ungodly fantasy science and maths", so I am undoubtedly wrong to you.