Refraction and Lenses - Mission RL1 Detailed Help


TRUE or FALSE: If light passes from one material to another material and changes its speed, then it will definitely change its direction as well. There are no exceptions.

(Note: Your true-false statement is selected at random from a collection of statements and may differ from the one shown here.)


 

Definition of Refraction:
Refraction is the bending of the path of light that occurs when light passes across the boundary from one medium to a new medium. The path of light changes or bends at the boundary.


 
Refraction occurs when light passes from one medium to another medium. The speed of light is dependent upon the medium through which it is traveling. Upon crossing the boundary, the speed of light changes. This speed change leads to a subsequent direction change. The change in direction of the path of light upon crossing the boundary is known as refraction. The only occasion in which light can cross the boundary and not undergo refraction is when it approaches the boundary in a perpendicular direction.