Snell’s Law helps calculate the speed of light in different media by relating how light bends when it moves from one medium to another, such as from air into water or glass. When light passes between two materials with different optical densities, it changes direction. This bending depends on the refractive indices of the two media and the angles at which the light enters and exits.
The refractive index of a medium tells us how much slower light travels in that medium compared to a vacuum. A higher refractive index means light travels more slowly. By observing how much the light bends when it enters the medium, we can determine the refractive index.
Once the refractive index is known, we can find the speed of light in that medium by comparing it to the known speed of light in a vacuum. So, Snell’s Law allows us to measure the bending of light, use that to find the refractive index, and then calculate how fast light is moving through the material. This is useful in fields like optics, physics, and materials science.