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Refraction
Light on air–plexi surface in this experiment undergoes refraction (lower ray) and reflection (upper ray). Refraction in a glass of water. The image is flipped. An image of the Golden Gate Bridge is refracted and bent by many differing three-dimensional drops of water. Refraction is the change in direction of propagation of a wave due to a change in its transmission medium.The phenomenon is explained by the conservation of energy and conservation of momentum. Due to change of medium, the phase velocity of the wave is changed but its frequency remains constant. This is most commonly observed when a wave passes from one medium to another at any angle other than 0° from the normal. Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomenon, but any type of wave can refract when it interacts with a medium, for example when sound waves pass from one medium into another or when water waves move into water of a different depth. Refraction is described by Snell's law, which states that for a given pair of media and a wave with a single frequency, the ratio of the sines of the angle of incidence ?1 and angle of refraction ?2 is equivalent to the ratio of phase velocities (v1 / v2) in the two media, or equivalently, to the opposite ratio of the indices of refraction (n2 / n1)::In general, the incident wave is partially refracted and partially reflected; the details of this behavior are described by the Fresnel equations.
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