A rather strange and bizarre conversation with Newton reminded me of probably my first great mystery I ever first puzzled at in science.
It was one of those moments in life that you remember as if it was yesterday.
I was a young student and this was my first real science problem I had encountered that I could not answer and any answer given to me by teachers and books I could easily falsify.
The problem was simple and you may care to follow
1.) We know and can measure that light is slowed in certain transparent media like air, water and glass.
2.) So if you make the glass or water thicker surely the light must slow more and more like stopping a bullet with jelly all one needs is enough thickness of jelly and the bullet will stop. I thought I was onto something with this because the deep oceans were also dark so a certain amount of water seems to be able to stop light in the above prediction.
However there is a big problem the speed of light is quoted as an absolute number and in fact it is used to create the refractive index
refractive index = speed of light in vacuum / Speed of light in media
Vacuum: 299,792,458 meters per second ... refractive index 1.000
Air at STP: 298,925,574 meters per second ... refractive index 1.000293
Typical crown glass: 197,231,880 meters per second .... refractive index 1.52
Water at 20 C: 225,407,863 meters per second .... refractive index 1.33
So I thought there is something wrong with these numbers how can they be quoting absolute speeds without telling me the thickness.I was so certain they had to be wrong I searched for the answer to the question how thick a piece of glass, air and water is required to completely stop light travelling thru it.
My problem was compounded because when I took the problem to my science teacher they offered a strange answer which itself was ultimately wrong.
The answer teacher gave:
Light is slowed in a media by the atoms absorbing the photons as they pass thru, a small delay later the photon is released back on it's way so the light passes thru but it appears slightly slower. There is no thickness of glass, air or water that will stop the light and that is why there is no thickness quoted.
Obviously wrong:
There is an obvious falsification to the above. If atom absorption was involved only very specific frequencies matching the spectral lines of the atoms would be affected. The ability to slow the entire spectrum of visible light for example would be almost impossible for a media.
It also was obvious to me if what they said was true I should be able to bend light easily by putting a round jar full of water for example on a record turn table and pass a light thru the turning media. As the photon gets absorbed when it is re-emitted the photon would be slightly moved in the spin direction and each time the process happened you should be able to bend the light. I actually tried it years later with a laser and a high speed centrifuge and nope the light goes straight thru.
A few years later I was to learn the answer to my problem and it is among the most amazing behaviors of light and once the answer is known one never thinks of light thru a media quite the same again.
So open challenge anyone care to offer ideas on the transmission of light thru a media and my childhood problem ... Lets see if anyone knows the answer ... warning google it will probably get you the wrong answer 
God luck
