Explain why light bends when it goes between different materials and how this amount of bending is determined? Use the following vocabulary words in your summary: index of refraction, incident angle, reflected angle, and refracted angle.
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.
The amount of bending is determined by Snell's Law:
Where N1 refractive index of medium 1 and n2 is refractive index of medium 2
And i is angle of incidence and r is angle of refraction.
By knowing n1 and n2, and measuring angle I we can calculate out the angle r.
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