— Why does heat distort what I see?
In: Physics
Light doesn’t travel in a straight line all the time. Among other things, when it moves between different materials, like air into water, it changes direction depending on the materials. This is a whole day of physics class, and part of why a prism makes a rainbow.
Well hot and cold air count as different here, and light curves when it hits a pocket of particularly hot or cold air. This causes the distortions, from roads that look wet at a distance but aren’t and other mirages, to just plain hot air looking like it’s some kind of cloud.
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