0
Light does not travel at 3.0 x 108 m/s unless it is in a vacuum. In air, water, glass and diamonds it travels more slowly and bends as it changes from one medium to another. Diamonds slow the light a great deal. That's why the can appear to sparkle as the light bounces around inside.
Light rays change path during refraction due to the change in density of the material. This can most easily be seen when looking at a stick sitting in water. The stick appears to bend.
As light travels in air it can travel faster than it can travel in water. When the ray of light hits the water at an angle it tends to bend down towards the perpendicular line to the surface of the water.
If light travels from a more dense to a less dense medium its speed will increase. The light beam, instead of traveling in a straight line as it exits the denser medium will bend away from the perpendicular.
Please see Related Links for a site that has diagrams.
Still curious? Ask our experts.
Chat with our AI personalities
Steve
Blake
ProfessorAdd your answer:
Earn +20 pts
Why light ray does not change it path when fall prallel to the normal?
The angle of incidence would be 90 degrees, so the angle of refraction is 0 degrees, as the light ray does not deviate.
What does prism do?
A prism can help us understand the refraction and the reflection of light when it asses between 2 different mediums ( from one medium into another less refractive or from one medium into another more refractive ) and the ray of light may emerge out of the prism by refraction or by reflection and sometimes by total internal reflection ( by obeying the 2 laws of reflection and by making the angel of incidence equal to the angle of reflection ) and sometimes it may continue its path without deviation that is when the angle of incidence is equal to 0 degrees then the angle of refraction will be equal to 0 degrees this is called undeviated !It separates the wavelengths contained in a beam of light.
The meter is defined as?
A meter is currently defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1 / 299,792,458 of a second.
How long is one m - one meter?
The meter is the length of the path traveled by light in vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second.
Show that the line integral is independent of the path?
since the line integral depends on the two values upper & lower limits and the function to which we have to integrate. the values changes only when the upper & lower limits changes, whatever the path is.
