peter.ell
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I've looked into refraction and diffraction of light, but there are a few things that I don't understand, if you know any of the answers to these questions, please help me:
1.) Why does light bend when it slows down instead of just continuing on in the same direction after being absorbed, held, and then emitted by the electrons in the medium? Why don't the electrons emit the light in the same direction after they absorb it? And how does simply increasing the delay between absorption of light and emission of light cause it to bend more? This doesn't make much sense.
2.) Why are different wavelengths of light refracted to different degrees? I know it's because different wavelengths are slowed to different degrees, but what causes this? Aren't different wavelengths absorbed or transmitted depending on how the electrons in a specific material interact with each wavelength of light, yet all transparent materials slow blue light more than red light, why? What causes does one wavelength travel slower than another?
3.) What's the difference between a dispersive medium and a non-dispersive medium? How can some materials slow light down without being dispersive?
4.) How is it possible for the colors of a rainbow to be so pure? Given what I learned about the light paths for different colors in a rainbow, I know that red light is not only refracted at the angle where red is seen in a rainbow, but also at all the other angles. Given this, it means that, while green light is not refracted at the top of a rainbow where red is, red happens to be refracted where green is... which should mean that we would not be able to see any of the colors in a rainbow except for red and whatever the combination of red and all the other colors turns out to be. Yet we don't, why not?
My utmost thanks for helping me understand these questions!
1.) Why does light bend when it slows down instead of just continuing on in the same direction after being absorbed, held, and then emitted by the electrons in the medium? Why don't the electrons emit the light in the same direction after they absorb it? And how does simply increasing the delay between absorption of light and emission of light cause it to bend more? This doesn't make much sense.
2.) Why are different wavelengths of light refracted to different degrees? I know it's because different wavelengths are slowed to different degrees, but what causes this? Aren't different wavelengths absorbed or transmitted depending on how the electrons in a specific material interact with each wavelength of light, yet all transparent materials slow blue light more than red light, why? What causes does one wavelength travel slower than another?
3.) What's the difference between a dispersive medium and a non-dispersive medium? How can some materials slow light down without being dispersive?
4.) How is it possible for the colors of a rainbow to be so pure? Given what I learned about the light paths for different colors in a rainbow, I know that red light is not only refracted at the angle where red is seen in a rainbow, but also at all the other angles. Given this, it means that, while green light is not refracted at the top of a rainbow where red is, red happens to be refracted where green is... which should mean that we would not be able to see any of the colors in a rainbow except for red and whatever the combination of red and all the other colors turns out to be. Yet we don't, why not?
My utmost thanks for helping me understand these questions!