In: Physics
Figure out
how to test what happens when the light rays come from underwater. Compare your ideas about why
things look different under water to how light rays appear to “bend.”.
Answer
When light travels from underwater to air, light is changing its media of propagation. Water is an optically denser medium when compared to air. Onchanging the media, some physical properties like velocity, wavelength associated with the light also changes. Due to this light deviates from its rectilinear propagation at the surface of separation of two mediums. This bending of light is called refraction. To observe this we have to view an object underwater at different angles. If the light from the obiect falls into our eye without bending, then we see that object in its actual size . But on changing our observation angle from 0° to larger angles, the size of the object also changes. This is all due to the bending of lightrays at the surface of separation . This bending is vivid when some objects lie in water so that a portion is underwater and remaining above. The portion below feels to to be displaced from portion above due to this bending of light.