Passage
An initially parallel cylindrical beam travels in a medium of refractive index , where and are positive constants and is the intensity of the light beam. The intensity of the beam is decreasing with increasing radius.The speed of light in the medium is
- (A)minimum on the axis of the beam✓ Correct
- (B)the same everywhere in the beam
- (C)directly proportional to the intensity I
- (D)maximum on the axis of the beam
Answer: (A)
Solution
The speed of light in the medium is with . The intensity is greatest on the axis and falls off outward, so the index is greatest on the axis. A larger index means a smaller speed, so the light travels slowest on the axis, that is the speed is minimum there.
JEE Main · 2010 · 11 Apr 2010 · Offline · Single correct option