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
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.
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