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Refraction is the change in direction of a wave, caused by the change in the wave’s speed. Examples of waves include sound waves and light waves. Refraction is seen most often when a wave passes from one transparent medium to another transparent medium. Different types of medium include air and water.
When a wave passes from one transparent medium to another transparent medium, the wave will change its speed and its direction. For example, when a light wave travels through air and then passes into water, the wave will slow and change direction.
As light goes into a medium which is denser, the light ray will ‘bend’ toward the normal.[1] When it goes back into the less dense medium (with a lower refractive index), it will bend back through the same angle as when it came in (if the surface at exit is parallel to the surface at entry).
An example of how refraction works is placing a straw in a cup of water, with part of the straw in the water. When looking at a certain angle, the straw appears to bend at the water’s surface. This is because of the change in density of the medium and thus, bending of light rays as they move from the air to water.
Reference:
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refraction(2019).Wikipedia.<2019>.