Refraction at a Boundary A wave doesn't just stop when it reaches the end of the medium.

. Rather, a wave will undergo certain behaviors when it encounters the end of the medium. Upon reaching the boundary, two behaviors will occur. o A portion of the energy carried by the incident pulse is reflected and returns towards the left end. The disturbance that returns to the left after bouncing off the boundary is known as the reflected pulse. o A portion of the energy carried by the incident pulse is transmitted. The disturbance that continues moving to the right is known as the transmitted pulse. The transmitted wave undergoes refraction (or bending) if it approaches the boundary at an angle. the passage of the energy from the incident medium into the transmitted medium was accompanied by a change in speed and wavelength. o If a pulse crossing the boundary from a less dense medium into a more dense medium, the speed and the wavelength are both decreased. o if a pulse crosses the boundary from a more dense medium into a less dense medium, the speed and the wavelength are both increased. This bending of the path of light is known as refraction. A one-word synonym for refraction is bending. Once the wavefront has passed across the boundary, it travels in a straight line. For this reason, refraction is called a boundary behavior. what would happen if a light wave is traveling through air and reaches the boundary with a glass surface? o a portion of the wave is transmitted into the new medium (glass) and a portion of the wave reflects off the air-glass boundary. o When passing from air into glass, both the speed and the wavelength decrease. o the light is observed to change directions as it crosses the boundary separating the air and the glass. Refraction and Sight it was emphasized that we are able to see because light from an object can travel to our eyes. Directing of our sight in a specific direction is sometimes referred to as the line of sight. As light travels through a given medium, o it travels in a straight line. o However, when light passes from one medium into a second medium, the light path bends. Refraction takes place. o The refraction occurs only at the boundary. o Once the light has crossed the boundary between the two media, it continues to travel in a straight line. Only now, the direction of that line is different than it was in the former medium.

 If when sighting at an object, light from that object changes media on the way to your eye, a visual distortion is likely to occur. Since refraction of light occurs when it crosses the boundary, visual distortions often occur when light changes medium as it travels from the object to our eyes. visual distortion is witnessed if you look at a pencil submerged in a glass half-filled with water. As you sight at the portion of the pencil that was submerged in the water, light travels from water to air (or from water to glass to air). This light ray changes medium and subsequently undergoes refraction. As a result, the image of the pencil appears to be broken. Furthermore, the portion of the pencil that is submerged in water appears to be wider than the portion of the pencil that is not submerged. These visual distortions are explained by the refraction of light.

Due to this bending of the path of light, a fish appears to be at a location where it isn't. It is sufficient to say that as the hunter with the spear sights more perpendicular to the water, the amount of refraction decreases. The most successful hunters are those who sight perpendicular to the water. The ideal line of sight that I would be able to hit my prey time after time o Along the normal, there is no refraction and no visual distortion of the image. The Cause of Refraction refraction occurs as light passes across the boundary between two media. The light wave not only changes directions at the boundary, it also change in both the speed and wavelength of the wave. The only time that a wave can be transmitted across a boundary, change its speed, and still not refract is when the light wave approaches the boundary in a direction that is perpendicular to it. Two Conditions of Refraction in order to observe the change in direction of the path o Must change speed when crossing the boundary. o Must approach the boundary at an angle; Refraction will not occur when they approach the boundary perpendicular to it. Since the light wave is approaching the boundary in a perpendicular direction, each point on the wavefront will reach the boundary at the same time. For this reason, there is no refraction of the light. The change in speed is the cause and the change in direction (refraction) is the effect.

Optical Density and Light Speed The mechanism by which a light wave is transported through a medium occurs in a manner that is similar to the way that any other wave is transported - by particle-toparticle The speed of the wave depends upon the optical density of that material, The more optically dense that a material is, the slower that a wave will move through the material. The index of refraction value increases, the optical density increases, and the speed of light in that material decreases. The Direction of Bending A line drawn perpendicular to the boundary at the point of incidence is known as a normal line. The tendency of a ray of light to bend one direction or another is dependent upon whether the light wave speeds up or slows down upon crossing the boundary. FST = Fast to Slow, Towards Normal o If a ray of light passes across the boundary from a material in which it travels fast into a material in which travels slower, then the light ray will bend towards the normal line. SFA = Slow to Fast, Away From Normal o If a ray of light passes across the boundary from a material in which it travels slow into a material in which travels faster, then the light ray will bend away from the normal line.
Boundary Behavior Revisited
light wave undergoes certain behaviors when it encounters the end of the medium - such behaviors include reflection, transmission/refraction, and diffraction. Reflection of a light wave involves the bouncing of a light wave off the boundary, while refraction of a light wave involves the bending of the path of a light wave upon crossing a boundary and entering a new medium. Both reflection and refraction involve a change in direction of a wave, but only refraction involves a change in medium. point of incidence - the point where the incident ray strikes the boundary normal line is always drawn perpendicular to the surface at the point of incidence. The angle between the incident ray and the normal is the angle of incidence. The angle between the reflected ray and the normal is the angle of reflection. the angle between the refracted ray and the normal is the angle of refraction. The fundamental law that governs the reflection of light is called the law of reflection. Law of reflection states that When a light ray reflects off a surface, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. The fundamental law that governs the refraction of light is Snell's Law. Snell's Law states that When a light ray is transmitted into a new medium, the relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction is given by the following equation

where the ni and nr values represent the indices of refraction of the incident and the refractive medium respectively.

Total Internal Reflection and Critical Angle

As the angle of incidence is increased, the brightness of the refracted ray decreases and the brightness of the reflected ray increases. The maximum possible angle of refraction is 90-degrees. TIR occurs because the angle of refraction reaches a 90-degree angle before the angle of incidence reaches a 90-degree angle. Total internal reflection (TIR) is the phenomenon that involves the reflection of all the incident light off the boundary. TIR only takes place when both of the following two conditions are met: o the light is in the more dense medium and approaching the less dense medium. o the angle of incidence is greater than the so-called critical angle. critical angle is the largest angle of incidence for which refraction can still occur. critical angle is defined as the angle of incidence that provides an angle of refraction of 90-degrees. Formula for critical Angle

the critical angle for the diamond-air boundary is an extremely small number. the diamond-air boundary plays an important role in the brilliance of a diamond gemstone because having a small critical angle, light has the tendency to become "trapped" inside of a diamond once it enters. A light ray will typically undergo TIR several times before finally refracting out of the diamond.