Eli5: How do diamonds make light go slower ?

Question

I googled it, but i didn’t really understand.

Can someone simplify the explanation please?

Thank you 🙂

In: Physics

Answer 1

Technically the photons aren’t going slower, they just have to take a longer path to make it through the diamond, this is true of any material medium, the photons crash into atoms and are absorbed and re emitted not necessarily in the same direction it was going before, so it bounces around inside the diamond until it finds its way out, all of these movements happen at light speed, but when compared to light moving in a straight line it will appear to go slower