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14 February, 14:09

On the Moon's surface, lunar astronauts placed a corner reflector, off which a laser beam is periodically reflected. The distance to the Moon is calculated from the round-trip time. The Earth's atmosphere slows down light. Assume the distance to the Moon is precisely 3.84*10^8 m, and Earth's atmosphere (which varies in density with altitude) is equivalent to a layer 40.0 km thick with a constant index of refraction n=1.000293. What is the difference in travel time for light that travels only through space to the moon and back and light that travels through the atmosphere and space?

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  1. 14 February, 14:28
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    The difference in time will be due to travel through atmosphere where speed of light slows down. If t be the thickness of atmosphere and c be the speed of light in space and μ be the refractive index of atmosphere difference in travel time will be as follows.

    difference = / frac{2t/mu }{c}-/frac{2t }{c}

    =/frac{2t}{c }/left (1-/mu / right)

    Now t = 40 x 10³m,μ = 1.000293, c = 3 x 10⁸.

    difference = / frac{2t/mu }{c}-/frac{2t }{c}

    =/frac{2t}{c }/left (/mu - 1 / right) / /

    =/frac{ 2/times 40/times 10^3}{3/times10^3 }/left (1.000293-1 / right) / /

    =7.81/times 10^{-3} s
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