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Chapter 30: Problem 2

Why does a spoon appear bent when it's in a glass of water?

Short Answer

Expert verified
The spoon appears bent in a glass of water due to refraction, the change in direction of light waves as they pass from one medium into another. When light travels from the spoon through the water and then into your eyes in the air, its path changes, giving the illusion that the spoon is bent.

Step by step solution

01

Understand Light Travel

Understand that light travels in straight lines, but when it moves from one medium to another - in this case, from water to air - its path changes. This is refraction.
02

Visualize Light Path

Visualize how light travels from the spoon through the water to your eyes. Light coming from the underwater portion of the spoon changes direction as it moves from water( denser medium) to air (less dense medium) to your eyes. This makes the underwater part of the spoon appear to bend.
03

Learn about Snell’s Law

Learn about Snell's Law, which describes how the angle of incidence (the angle at which light hits the interface between two mediums) and the refractive indices of the two mediums determine the angle of refraction (the angle at which light leaves the interface).
04

Apply Snell’s Law to Spoon in Water

Apply Snell's Law to this scenario to understand why the spoon appears bent. When light moves from the spoon, through the water, and then to your eyes in the air, it changes direction. The change in direction implies refraction. Because the light rays' path gets refracted, the spoon appears distorted and bent in the water.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

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A slab of transparent material has thickness \(d\) and refractive index \(n\) that varies across the material: \(n(x)=n_{1}+\left(n_{2}-n_{1}\right)(x / d)^{2}\) where \(x\) is measured from one face of the slab. A light ray is incident normally on the slab. Find an expression for the time it takes to traverse the slab.

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