Does water and air refract light?

Answer 1

Generally speaking water has a greater index of refraction and therefore light bends more in water then in glass.

That is why when you see a fish through water it is actually a little off to one side or another. Also if you put a pencil into water and look from the side it will look like the pencil is sliced in half.

Answer 2

So lovely phenomenon of " Total internal reflection" to deal with!

The speed of light in glass is less compared to that in air medium.

So when light traversing in glass medium falls at the surface of separation of glass and air, at an inclined direction, then the light gets bent away from the normal.

That is, the angle between the refracted ray and the normal drawn to the surface of separation (angle of refraction r ) is found more than the angle between the normal and the incident ray (angle of incidence i). So r > i

But, Snell's law states that the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to that of refraction gives the refractive index of the refracting medium with respect to the first medium. Any way that value is constant.

Hence r and i become proportional.

As we increase i, then r also increases.

But r could reach 90 earlier than i. If r = 90 then that is utmost possibility of refraction.

In that case, the angle of incidence for which r = 90 is named as critical angle and denoted by the symbol C.

Therefore, sin C / sin 90 gives the refractive index of air with respect to glass.

Reciprocating both sides, the refractive index of the glass w.r.t air will be 1/sinC.

Now, if we further increase the angle of incidence beyond this C, then no more refraction phenomenon is possible. So all the light energy gets reflected within the denser medium itself, namely glass, and this phenomenon is known to be Total internalreflection.

Answer 3

every transparent matter has a different refraction coefficient. this means every matter has a resistance to a ray of light. refraction coefficient of air is smaller than glass therefore the ray of light chooses another way through out the resistance. if the difference between two matters' refraction coefficient increase, the ray of light will diverge from the axis with a bigger degree.

Answer 4

This depends on several factors including angle of incidence (the angle the light hits the glass as measured from the perpendicular), the type of glass, the speed of light in the air, the speed of light in the glass (again depending on the composition of each)... if you don't know the speeds you can use the refractive indices... (air is usually considered to be = 1). For for information you can study up on Snell's law of refraction.

It also depends on whether the glass is flat or curved. If it is curved then you can calculate angle of incidence from the normal (perpendicular) of the tangent of the curvature at point of entry but it is easier to use various lens equations.

Answer 5

Yes. Air by a little, depending on its density (which varies with temperature and pressure) and water by a LOT, but again, depending on its density.

Answer 6

Glass