It is often seen that according to physics the light changes it's velocity according to the medium through which it is traveling. So can it be explained that why so happen?
Answer
The speed of light is always constant. The speed doesn't change, but the distance it travels might change. For example the speed of light "decreases" with about 35% when traveling in optical fiber. This happens because light doesn't go straight trough the fiber, it bounces in all directions. It's like putting a lot of mirrors. So the distance that we measure (the length of the optical fiber) is not the same is the distance light travels
So if you would have vacuum then the distance light travels would be the same as the distance you "can" measure, but if you don't have vacuum light will bounce from one atom to another. The photon will be absorbed by the atom, the atom's energy will rise for a few moments, and then it will fall back again to his original state, releasing the photon. This creates first of all a different wave length(a different color) and a longer path for light to travel. Because the photon doesn't go in a straight line from one atom to another.
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