In optics we all know that a ray of light bends according to incident angle when it passess to a glass slab form air.For some time consider(suppose) that you are a ray of light and are going to strike on a plane of glass slab. I am sure you will agree that you will see nothing but only the point on the plane on which you are going to strike. At such condition how can you know the inclination at which you are inclined to the plane of glass slab and bend accordingly???
2006-08-14 22:33:29 · 6 answers · asked by Rah-the genius 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Physics
Good question. Alltoo often we are taught point, particle, zero, infinity. All these are only approximations. We should not get too caught up in this or that situation. These ideas have a limit they work here but not there. Huygens demonstrated that waves (yes this, refraction, is a case where we consider wave property of light not particle) have a wave front; that is a width. So now the skateboard analogy can apply. If you are on a smoth concrete path and strike a grass surface at an angle the the first wheel to hit will slow while the other wheel continues at higher speed until it hits grass and slows. This causes an angle of refraction that obeys all the usual optics laws it even corrects when we leave the grass back to the concrete.
2006-08-14 22:51:00 · answer #1 · answered by slatibartfast 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If I'm going to go so far as to believe that I am a ray of light and I can see where I'm going, then there are two possibilities. (1) I can control where I am going therefore I will know at what angle I will bounce off the glass. (2) I cannot control where I am going and I will not know at what angle I will bounce off the glass.
2006-08-14 22:43:00 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is a limitation of the "ray theory" of light.
To explain refraction, light is better described as a wave. The wavefronts of a light wave will "see" a broader area of the interface, which allows for refraction to occur.
Here is a nice online animation showing the effect:
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/reflection/huygens/index.html
2006-08-15 04:13:09 · answer #3 · answered by genericman1998 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I dont understand why you would only see the point that you're going to strike... but even if you did, you're not bending, per se, you are being bent. What you see has nothing to do with it.
2006-08-14 22:38:21 · answer #4 · answered by Tim 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe, if you're a ray of light, as far as you're concerned, you're still traveling in a straight line but through a different medium.
2006-08-14 22:39:33 · answer #5 · answered by 006 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are assuming that a photon is infinetly small. It isn't.
2006-08-15 00:25:46 · answer #6 · answered by rumplestiltskin12357 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋