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General Explanation: Light

Refraction is the change in direction of a wave as it passes from one medium to another with different wave propagation speeds. Light, sound, and water waves all experience refraction according to Snell's law, where the ratio of sines of the angles of incidence and refraction is equal to the ratio of phase velocities in the two media. Refraction is responsible for many optical phenomena we observe like lenses and prisms working, and rainbows forming. It occurs because the speed of light decreases in denser mediums, causing the wavefront to compress and change direction at the boundary to stay continuous.

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34 views2 pages

General Explanation: Light

Refraction is the change in direction of a wave as it passes from one medium to another with different wave propagation speeds. Light, sound, and water waves all experience refraction according to Snell's law, where the ratio of sines of the angles of incidence and refraction is equal to the ratio of phase velocities in the two media. Refraction is responsible for many optical phenomena we observe like lenses and prisms working, and rainbows forming. It occurs because the speed of light decreases in denser mediums, causing the wavefront to compress and change direction at the boundary to stay continuous.

Uploaded by

Azreen Anis azmi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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In physics, refraction is the change in direction of a wave passing from one medium to another or

from a gradual change in the medium.[1] Refraction of light is the most commonly observed
phenomenon, but other waves such as sound waves and water waves also experience refraction.
How much a wave is refracted is determined by the change in wave speed and the initial direction of
wave propagation relative to the direction of change in speed.
For light, refraction follows Snell's law, which states that, for a given pair of media, the ratio of the
sines of the angle of incidence θ1 and angle of refraction θ2 is equal to the ratio of phase
velocities (v1 / v2) in the two media, or equivalently, to the indices of refraction (n2 / n1) of the two
media.[2]

Refraction of light at the interface between two media of different refractive indices, with n2 > n1. Since
the phase velocity is lower in the second medium (v2 < v1), the angle of refraction θ2 is less than the
angle of incidence θ1; that is, the ray in the higher-index medium is closer to the normal.

Optical prisms and lenses use refraction to redirect light, as does the human eye. The refractive


index of materials varies with the wavelength of light,[3] and thus the angle of the refraction also
varies correspondingly. This is called dispersion and causes prisms and rainbows to divide white
light into its constituent spectral colors.[4]

Light

A pen partially submerged in a bowl of water appears bent due to refraction at the water surface.

Refraction of light can be seen in many places in our everyday life. It makes objects under a water
surface appear closer than they really are. It is what optical lenses are based on, allowing for
instruments such as glasses, cameras, binoculars, microscopes, and the human eye. Refraction is
also responsible for some natural optical phenomena including rainbows and mirages.

General explanation
When a wave moves into a slower medium the wavefronts get compressed. For the wavefronts to stay
connected at the boundary the wave must change direction.

A correct explanation of refraction involves two separate parts, both a result of the wave nature of
light.

1. Light slows as it travels through a medium other than vacuum (such as air, glass or water).
This is not because of scattering or absorption. Rather it is because, as an electromagnetic
oscillation, light itself causes other electrically charged particles such as electrons, to
oscillate. The oscillating electrons emit their own electromagnetic waves which interact with
the original light. The resulting "combined" wave has wave packets that pass an observer at
a slower rate. The light has effectively been slowed down. When light returns to a vacuum
and there are no electrons nearby, this slowing effect ends and its speed returns to c.
2. When light enters, exits or changes the medium it travels in, at an angle, one side or the
other of the wavefront is slowed before the other. This asymmetrical slowing of the light
causes it to change the angle of its travel. Once light is within the new medium with constant
properties, it travels in a straight line again.
Explanation for slowing of light in a medium
As described above, the speed of light is slower in a medium other than vacuum. This slowing
applies to any medium such as air, water, or glass, and is responsible for phenomena such as
refraction. When light leaves the medium and returns to a vacuum, and ignoring any effects
of gravity, its speed returns to the usual speed of light in a vacuum, c.
Common explanations for this slowing, based upon the idea of light scattering from, or being
absorbed and re-emitted by atoms, are both incorrect. Explanations like these would cause a
"blurring" effect in the resulting light, as it would no longer be travelling in just one direction. But this
effect is not seen in nature.
A more correct explanation rests on light's nature as an electromagnetic wave.[5] Because light is an
oscillating electrical/magnetic wave, light traveling in a medium causes the electrically
charged electrons of the material to also oscillate. (The material's protons also oscillate but as they
are around 2000 times more massive, their movement and therefore their effect, is far smaller). A
moving electrical charge emits electromagnetic waves of its own. The electromagnetic waves
emitted by the oscillating electrons, interact with the electromagnetic waves that make up the original
light, similar to water waves on a pond, a process known as constructive interference. When two
waves interfere in this way, the resulting "combined" wave may have wave packets that pass an
observer at a slower rate. The light has effectively been slowed down. When the light leaves the
material, this interaction with electrons no longer happens, and therefore the wave packet rate (and
therefore its speed) return to normal.

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