BRAINCAKERefraction
Refraction is the change in direction of a wave when it passes from one medium into another and changes speed.
Light travels fastest in a vacuum (c = 3.00 × 108 m s-1) and slower in materials such as water and glass. When a ray of light enters a slower material at an angle to the boundary, it bends. Angles are measured from the normal, a line drawn at 90° to the boundary where the ray meets it.
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More in Optics
- Snell's Law
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- Investigating Total Internal Reflection
- Applications of Total Internal Reflection
- Concave Lenses
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All 21 lessons in Optics · All Edexcel AS-level Physics topics