Examples of Refraction of Light
- The stars twinkle in the night sky due to the refraction of their light.
- Looming and Mirage formation, both occur due to the optical illusions caused by the refraction of light.
- The formation of rainbows in the sky and VIBGYOR, when white light passes through the prism are also major examples of refraction.
- A swimming pool always seems or looks much shallower than it really is because of the light that comes from the bottom of the pool bends at the surfaces due to the refraction of light.
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.