So when light passes through a medium it either “slows down” or “speeds up” which somehow translates into the angle changing. How exactly does this works? I just kinda always taken it at face level ever since school.
In: Mathematics
3blue1brown did an excellent video on this recently, https://youtu.be/KTzGBJPuJwM?si=BSyLqkohWhauX8qQ explains the slowing down
https://youtu.be/Cz4Q4QOuoo8?si=txXHwRi76sH6w0nA explains the bending.
It’s essentially a harmonic oscillation of the material interacting with the light wave, and then you have to bend if you hit something at an angle because one side of the wave slows down before the other side does, so you have to bend to keep the wave the same width.
There is an image that explains this very nicely on wikipedia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refraction#General_explanation
Basically, light can be thought of as a wave. When that wave passes through a slower medium, the wave gets compressed in the direction it’s going. This means that if the wave enters the medium at an angle, the side that enters first will be compressed first. In order for both sides of the wave to stay together, the wave must turn towards its slower side, which is what we call refraction.
Latest Answers