Refraction and bending of light

[sharma_satdev]

please let me know what is the nature of force that bends the path of photon during refraction.

 

[xts]

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.

 

[Dr_Morbius]

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.

 

[Drakkith]

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.