The bending of waves caused by a change in their speed is called?

Question

a- diffraction
b- refraction
c- reflection
d- convection

Answer 1

B

The angle of the 'bend' can be measured using Snell's Law:
cf. http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/SnellsLaw.html

Answer 2

light waves only travel at one speed, C, the speed of light.

Photons that travel through matter are deflected back and forth by the electrons of the matter, and this longer path makes it appear to travel slower.

Because blue light has a higher frequency than red light, the probability of each photon being deflected by each electron of the matter is higher, so blue light is slowed more than red because it is deflected more often and thus has a longer path.

if the light does not approach from a right angle, the change in path length results in the light changing direction, because one side of the photon hits the matter first.

here's an analogy. think of a 4 wheeled car driving on a smooth hard road. if the exact same energy is still applied to the wheels, the car will slow down when it hits a muddy road.

if only the right side of the road were mud, the car would be dragged to the right.

now, a car with 13-inch tires would be deflected to the right more than a car with 16-inch tires. this is why blue light bends more than red light... forming rainbows.

Answer 3

B