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ScootysDad t1_j8lnw75 wrote

I'll leave it to someone else to show the math but the short answer is that light is a propagating electromagnetic wave. As it passes through an atom, an electron within feel the force of the light wave and oscillate which sets up its own electric field (albeit at a different frequency). Through superposition, we can than add up the sum of those waves to give a net wave which is slower than the originating light.

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