Light slowing down makes it change direction (UEB uncontracted)

By: Rnib

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Synopsis: This labelled diagram shows a light ray's wavefront being refracted as it passes through a boundary between air and glass and slows down in the denser glass. There is a locator dot shown, which will be at the top left of the page when the image is the correct way up. The diagram is surrounded by a dashed line image border. The incident light wave is shown travelling diagonally from the top left of the page. It is represented by a series of parallel diagonal lines. Its direction of travel is indicated by arrows. The boundary between the air and glass is represented by a dotted line going horizontally across the centre of the page. As the light ray hits the boundary, point A on the left of the wavefront enters the glass and starts slowing down before point B on the right. This causes the wavefront to bend (refract) to the left.

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