Light rays usually travel in straight lines, but when they pass from one material to another they can be forced to bend (change direction and continue on a new straight path). The bending is called refraction. It happens because light travels at different speeds in different materials. If light rays travel through air and enter a more dense material, such as water, they slow down and bend into the more dense material. Light rays moving into a less dense material, such as from water to air, speed up and bend outwards. The light goes into the glass, slows down because glass is more dense than air. As soon as the ray of light exits the glass into the air, it speeds up and straightens out. Think about being on roller skates, or a skate board. You can move really fast on the pavement, but if one of your wheels goes into the grass or soft part next to the pavement, your whole board slows down and turns toward the softer grass or mud. Using light as our example again, we see how light enters water and is pulled into the water. For those of you that have some time, watch this: Refractive index is a number that can be found in a chart. (I know! Who has time to figure that out?? I'm really glad that I didn't have to do that!) Scientists already know what the refractive indexes are for water, air, diamonds, mud, glass and on and on.... Refraction is freaky and can cause your eyes to see some pretty weird illusions: Okay! That dude is really freaky! 'Nough said!
16 Comments
parker
3/22/2017 07:07:20 pm
ahhh hes headless
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Sofia
3/22/2017 07:47:58 pm
Refraction is really cool, those pictures were awesome!
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Avery
3/23/2017 07:00:39 am
This is really cool! Refraction is so cool!
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amanda
3/23/2017 07:16:37 am
loved it
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grant
3/23/2017 07:19:08 am
it was amazing
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daja
3/23/2017 07:21:48 am
amazing
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B r a d y
3/23/2017 07:21:51 am
I am kinda' scared by da ol' man.
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brady
3/23/2017 07:23:02 am
sorry i mean scarred
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Zaya
3/23/2017 07:23:37 am
It's fun to learn about refraction!
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peter
3/23/2017 07:24:51 am
the last pic is amazing
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haley
3/23/2017 07:30:02 am
cool pictures
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liliana
3/23/2017 09:25:07 am
Physics are phun
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Mrs. TaylorI love science! Everything about the world is interesting and never boring. I love to study plants, animals, insects, and people. My favorite subjects are my students who are the most unique organisms on the planet! Categories |