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.

 

[sardar]

The nature of the force that bends the path of a photon during refraction is electromagnetic force. This force is caused by the interaction between the electric and magnetic fields of the photon and the surrounding materials. When a photon enters a new medium, such as air to water or air to glass, the electrons in the material are disturbed by the electric field of the photon. This disturbance causes the electrons to oscillate, creating a secondary electric field that opposes the direction of the incoming photon. This interaction causes the photon to change its direction, resulting in the bending of the light. This phenomenon is described by Snell's law, which relates the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction to the refractive index of the material. In summary, the bending of light during refraction is due to the electromagnetic force between the photon and the surrounding material.