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Since some mediums have an index of refraction more than 1, light goes slower than in a vacuum. Does this mean it is possible for particles to go faster than the speed of light in these mediums? If so, is there any effects that arise from this?

Qmechanic
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TheStrangeQuark
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    Čerenkov radiation. – AccidentalFourierTransform Apr 11 '16 at 20:09
  • To AccidentalFourierTransform Sorry for offtopic but I couldn't just ignore it. Cherenkov was Russian and russians use cyrillic, so when translate in English there is no need to use extra symbols. It is not Serbian and one should not use Č symbol in English transcription. CH is perfectly fine. – Ivan Madan Apr 11 '16 at 22:16

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Yes, this does happen. Cherenkov radiation is a well known effect. It produces that blue glow you might have seen in pictures of nuclear reactors resulting from electrons passing through water a speeds faster than light.

M. Enns
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