Light travels in different media in different speed, then why should it bend? it should just go slowly in 2nd medium.

hi

light travels in different media with different speeds because those 2 media have got different refractive indices.if they have got different refractive indices then the bending is also different as snell's law says n=sin i/sin r................................ 

Approved

Dear student,

Refraction is one of many characteristics of light. Usually light travels in straight lines, but it bends as it passes from a medium of one density to a medium of differing density. Light bends because it travels at different speeds through mediums of differing densities. Light, as it moves through air, travels 186,000 miles per second. However, the denser the material that light is traveling through, the slower the speed will be. Light passes a lot slower through water, for example. Refraction of light can be seen by using a prism. The white light is separated into all of the colors of the rainbow. Mirages are also caused by refraction of light.

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