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Refraction

Refraction. Reflection occurs when light rays bounce off object. Using the laws of reflection, the direction in which reflected light travels can be predicted and the location of an image can be predicted. But what happens when light moves from air into a different medium?.

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Refraction

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  1. Refraction • Reflection occurs when light rays bounce off object. • Using the laws of reflection, the direction in which reflected light travels can be predicted and the location of an image can be predicted. • But what happens when light moves from air into a different medium?

  2. As you look through the side of the glass at the portion of the pencil located above the water's surface, light travels directly from the pencil to your eye. Since this light does not change medium, it will not refract. As you look at the portion of the pencil which was submerged in the water, light travels from water to air. This light ray changes medium and subsequently undergoes refraction. As a result, the image of the pencil appears to be broken. The portion of the pencil which is submerged in water also appears to be wider than the portion of the pencil which is not submerged.

  3. Refraction is the bending of light when it travels from one medium to another. • Light bends because it changes speed when it moves between materials with different densities. • Light travels more slowly in thicker/denser material. • The bending of light makes an object’s image appear to be in a different position from where the object really is.

  4. The Direction of Bending • Refraction is the bending of the path of a light wave as it passes from one material into another material. • The refraction occurs at the boundary and is caused by a change in the speed of the light wave upon crossing the boundary.

  5. The tendency of a ray of light to bend one direction or another is dependent upon whether the light wave speeds up or slows down upon crossing the boundary. • The direction which the path of a light wave bends depends on whether the light wave is traveling from a more dense (slow) medium to a less dense (fast) medium or from a less dense medium to a more dense medium.

  6. As light travels through a given medium, it travels in a straight line. However, when light passes from one medium into a second medium, the light path bends. Refraction takes place. The refraction occurs only at the boundary. • Once the light has crossed the boundary between the two media, it continues to travel in a straight line. Only now, the direction of that line is different than it was in the former medium.

  7. On the diagram, the direction of the students is represented by two arrows known as rays. The direction of the students as they approach the boundary is represented by an incident ray (drawn in blue). And the direction of the students after they cross the boundary is represented by a refracted ray (drawn in red).

  8. Since the students change direction (refract), the incident ray and the refracted ray do not point in the same direction. • See the perpendicular line drawn to the boundary at the point where the incident ray strikes the boundary? • A line drawn perpendicular to the boundary at the point of incidence is known as a normal line.

  9. Observe that the refracted ray lies closer to the normal line than the incident ray does. In such an instance as this, we would say that the path of the students has bent towards the normal.

  10. Light Traveling from a Fast to a Slow Medium • If a ray of light passes across the boundary from a fast material into a slow material, then the light ray will bend towards the normal line. • FST = Fast to Slow, Towards Normal • If a ray of light passes across the boundary from a material in which it travels fast into a material in which travels slower, then the light ray will bend towards the normal line.

  11. Now suppose that the each individual student in the train of students speeds up once they cross the masking tape. • The first student to reach the boundary will speed up and pull ahead of the other students. When the second student reaches the boundary, he/she will also speed up and pull ahead of the other students. • This continues for each student, causing the line of students to now be traveling in a direction further from the normal.

  12. The refracted ray (in red) is further away from the normal then the incident ray (in blue). In such an instance , the path of the students has bent away from the normal.

  13. Light Traveling from a Slow to a Fast Medium • If a ray of light passes across the boundary from a slow material into a fast material, then the light ray will bend away from the normal line. • SFA = Slow to Fast, Away From Normal • If a ray of light passes across the boundary from a material in which it travels slow into a material in which travels faster, then the light ray will bend away from the normal line.

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