About This Lesson
When a beam of light waves hits a transparent material such as glass the speed of the waves slows down.
If the waves meet the interface at an angle the beam bends - this bending is called .
The speed of light in air is 3x10 ms (c) and its speed in glass is about 2x10 ms (c).
In the animation the angle of incidence of the waves in air is 40, the refractive index of the glass (c/c) = 1.5 and this gives an angle of refraction of the wave in glass of 25.4.
