Refraction and bending of light

AI Thread Summary
Refraction of light is not caused by a force but rather by the change in the speed of light as it passes through materials with different refractive indices. In a quantum mechanics context, photons do not experience a force during refraction; instead, their path is altered due to variations in light velocity. This phenomenon can be likened to a photon moving on a sloped surface, where it receives an impulse perpendicular to the refractive boundary. Classical wave behavior also demonstrates that direction changes occur without the involvement of a force when waves enter a new medium at angles other than 0 or 90 degrees. Understanding refraction requires recognizing these principles rather than attributing it to a force acting on light.
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please let me know what is the nature of force that bends the path of photon during refraction.
 
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There is no such thing as 'force' in modern, quantum-mechanics, approach.

In naive Newton's mechanistic model of light you may treat photon as a snooker ball, but not at the flat table, but rather on the one with one half lifted a bit comparing to other, so the photon receives impulse perpendicular to the refractive surface as crossing it.
 
There is no force involved in refraction it is caused purely by difference in the velocity of light in the two materials with different refractive indices.
 
Please note that the rules for classical waves also don't have a force altering the direction a wave propagates in. When the index of refraction changes bewteen two mediums the waves will have their path altered if they are entering the new medium at anything other than a 0 or 90 degree angle.
 
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