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 '14 at 17:27
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$\begingroup$ What is "atomic force" for you? $\endgroup$ – Ignacio Vergara Kausel Jan 17 '14 at 17:28
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$\begingroup$ Forces between two atoms,bonding forces.i think its same for all. $\endgroup$ – Vaishakh Rajan K Jan 17 '14 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 Rennie Jan 17 '14 at 17:50
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$\begingroup$ Simply put,"Boundary conditions for dielectrics". $\endgroup$ – Sandesh Kalantre Jan 18 '14 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/… $\endgroup$ – jinawee Jan 20 '14 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.
