The speed of light in a medium such as water can be calculated using the formula:
v = c / n
where: v is the speed of light in the medium, c is the speed of light in a vacuum (approximately 299,792,458 meters per second), and n is the refractive index of the medium.
The refractive index is a dimensionless quantity that describes how light propagates through a medium compared to its speed in a vacuum. The refractive index of water depends on the wavelength of light being considered, but a commonly used value for visible light in water is approximately 1.33.
Using this value, we can calculate the speed of light in water as follows:
v = c / n v = 299,792,458 m/s / 1.33 v ≈ 225,458,258 m/s
Therefore, the speed of light in water is approximately 225,458,258 meters per second.