Transmission of light from a modern perspective:
Electromagnetic waves including light the same as all the fundamental fields would usual pass straight thru matter. The only reason light reacts with matter is because electromagnetic waves including light react with the charge in matter it becomes like a shockwave.
The ultimate proof of that can be done by using QM trickery called electrically induced transparency
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetically_induced_transparencyYou can make a material that normal will not allow light to pass thru it to allow it thru over a very narrow window band.
Layman articles:
http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/03/f...tack-using-eit/http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/09/electromagnetic-induced-transparency/The full layman reference on the matter:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_lightWhy this subject still causes confusion and is not easily picked up on google searches is because the definitive answers are all post 1999, it takes time for such changes to make it through all levels of science.
That is the point the idea of light wave duality died, light is only ever a wave the particle behavior of light is an illusion creted by the disturbance of the field in the presence of charge (electrons).
The correct and more accurate view of light is quoted
The simplest picture of light given by classical physics is of a wave or disturbance in the electromagnetic field. In a vacuum, Maxwell's equations predict that these disturbances will travel at a specific speed, denoted by the symbol c. This well-known physical constant is commonly referred to as the speed of light. The postulate of the constancy of the speed of light in all inertial reference frames lies at the heart of special relativity and has given rise to a popular notion that the "speed of light is always the same". However, in many situations light is more than a disturbance in the electromagnetic field.
In addition to propagating through a vacuum, light may also propagate through many types of matter, denoted as the medium. Light traveling within a medium is no longer a disturbance solely of the electromagnetic field, but rather a disturbance of the field and the positions and velocities of the charged particles (electrons) within the material. The motion of the electrons is determined by the field (due to the Lorentz force) but the field is determined by the positions and velocities of the electrons (due to Gauss' law and Ampere's law). The behavior of a disturbance of this combined electromagnetic-charge density field (i.e. light) is still determined by Maxwell's equations, but the solutions are complicated because of the intimate link between the medium and the field.
That is the lesson and memo in the question I posed.
Newtons problems stem from the fact he equates light in a vacuum to light in a media and that assumption is wrong ... one needs to be careful about assumptions
He shouldn't feel bad that was my problem as well in my initial experiment and why it failed dismally .. so I was definitely no smarter but I did learn
There is a small message in the experiment for those who still want a solid world anything that looks solid with a bit of QM trickery we can make transparent to light so your world really is a "glass house" take care in every sense
So many lessons from one piece of basic science!
Paul won't like it or accept it because it involves QM so even proof by doing what in classic physics seems impossible ... mind you we have him accepting BEC exists he probably didn't realise what it is ... queue predictable reaction ... uncontrolled rant incoming
