Characteristics of Refraction
Some of the important characteristics of Refraction are:
- The frequency of light does not change when it travels from one medium to another, but the velocity and wavelength of light changes.
- A ray of light bends when it travels from one optical medium to another with a variable refractive index. For a specific pair of media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is constant.
- The relationship between a medium’s refractive index and the speed of light in that medium is as follows:
where,
- i and r are the angle of incidence and refraction,
- n is the refractive index and n1 and n2 are the refractive indices of medium 1 and 2, and
- v1 and v2 are the speed of light in medium 1 and 2 respectively.
Refraction of Light
Refraction is an important term used in the Ray Optics branch of Physics. Refraction of light is defined as the change in direction or the bending of a wave passing from one medium to another due to the change in speed of the wave. Some natural phenomena occurring in nature where refraction of light takes place are the twinkling of stars, the formation of mirages and Rainbows, Optical illusions, and many more. The major cause of refraction to occur is the change in the speed of waves in different mediums, which is different due to the difference between the densities of the mediums. e.g. the speed of light in a vacuum is maximum. Snell’s Law provides a quantitative description of the amount of bending of a wave, that depends on the refractive index of the two mediums. Let’s learn more about refraction like the Laws of Refractions, Causes of Refraction, Types of Refraction, Examples, and Applications of Refractions in the article below.
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