Refraction is the bending of a wave when it enters a medium where its speed is different. The refraction of light when it passes from a fast medium to a slow medium bends the light ray toward the normal to the boundary between the two media. My question is what is the fundamental reason for this refraction?is it something related to the atomic force?
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asked Jan 17, 2014 at 17:27
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$\begingroup$ What is "atomic force" for you? $\endgroup$– Ignacio Vergara KauselJan 17, 2014 at 17:28
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$\begingroup$ Forces between two atoms,bonding forces.i think its same for all. $\endgroup$– Vaishakh Rajan KJan 17, 2014 at 17:42
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1$\begingroup$ The refraction is caused by a change in the speed of light, and this is due to interactions with electrons in the solid. See physics.stackexchange.com/q/44751 for more on this. Also my answer to physics.stackexchange.com/q/56188. And also physics.stackexchange.com/q/65156. And finally physics.stackexchange.com/q/81799. None of these is an exact duplicate though. $\endgroup$– John RennieJan 17, 2014 at 17:50
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$\begingroup$ Simply put,"Boundary conditions for dielectrics". $\endgroup$– Sandesh KalantreJan 18, 2014 at 3:48
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$\begingroup$ possible duplicate of What is the mechanism behind the slowdown of light/photons in a transparent medium?. See also: physics.stackexchange.com/questions/11820/… and physics.stackexchange.com/questions/2041/… $\endgroup$– jinaweeJan 20, 2014 at 16:04
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Refraction of light can be derived using classical electrodynamics. When light passes from one medium to another, its speed changes according to propagation constant. The frequency of light cannot change, so to make up for the changed speed, the wavelength changes. If you apply the boundary conditions, you get snell's law of refraction - refer to a classical electrodynamics book. See also Snell's law.
