the.com/refraction
light's habit of taking shortcuts that make straws look broken and pools look shallow.
means The bending of light (or any wave) as it passes from one medium into another of different density, which changes its speed and direction.
from From Latin 'refractus,' the past participle of 'refringere' — to break up or break open — built from 're-' (back) and 'frangere' (to break), the same root behind 'fracture' and 'fragment.' The idea is that the wave's path is, in a sense, broken at the boundary, snapped onto a new line as it crosses into glass or water. The scientific sense settled in English in the 1600s, as students of optics worked out exactly how light bends.
- speed shift
- light slows down in water, bending its path
- rainbow maker
- raindrops split sunlight into every color
- diamond trick
- high refraction makes diamonds throw fire
- fish illusion
- spear where the fish isn't, actually
- desert mirages
- hot air refracts sky into fake water
mirages in sahara desert — light bending through hot air layers creates illusions of water, visible across north africa's dunes
subsun phenomenon — ice crystals in clouds refract light to create a bright spot below the sun, observed by pilots and mountaineers
green flash sunset — atmospheric refraction splits sunlight at horizon into colors, green peak visible for seconds before sun disappears over ocean