Reflection, Refraction and Refractive Index. SEPTEMBER

Have you ever noticed how a straw looks bent when placed in a glass of water, or how a pool seems shallower than it really is? These everyday sights may seem like optical illusions, but they’re actually examples of something fascinating that happens to light. When light moves through different materials, it behaves in surprising ways, and this change can affect what we see. This is all due to a property of light called refraction. Refraction is the bending of light as it passes from one material to another, and it’s responsible for the way light behaves in lenses, prisms, and other optical devices. Understanding refraction can help us explain why a straw looks bent in water, why a pool looks shallower than it is, and even why rainbows form in the sky.