Lysavbøyning

Lysavbøyning, also known as optical refraction, is the phenomenon where light bends as it passes from one medium to another. This bending occurs because the speed of light changes depending on the density of the medium it is traveling through. When light enters a denser medium, it slows down and bends towards the normal, an imaginary line perpendicular to the surface. Conversely, when light exits a denser medium into a less dense one, it speeds up and bends away from the normal.

The degree of bending is quantified by the refractive index of the medium, a value that represents how much light slows down in that substance compared to its speed in a vacuum. A higher refractive index indicates a slower speed of light and thus a greater bending effect. This principle is responsible for many everyday optical illusions, such as the apparent bending of a straw in a glass of water or the shimmering effect above hot surfaces.

Lysavbøyning is fundamental to the operation of optical instruments like lenses, prisms, and telescopes. Lenses, for example, use carefully shaped surfaces to bend light and focus it at a specific point, enabling vision correction or magnification. Prisms utilize lysavbøyning to separate white light into its constituent colors, demonstrating the phenomenon of dispersion. Understanding lysavbøyning is crucial in fields ranging from physics and astronomy to engineering and biology.