Why does a spoon appear broken when it’s half submerged?

By: Kevin Ikeda 5 th Period The spoon appears broken because of refraction.

Refraction

Refraction the reason objects appear bent or broken when partly submerged in water. The reason is because the wave passes through two mediums as its velocity changes it bends slightly. Also it is determined by the angle and its refractive index.

Snells Law

Snells Law is stated in the equation.

Ni

* Sin(

Ai

) =

Nr

* Sin(

Ar

) Where…

Ni =

The refractive index of the medium the light is leaving,

Ai

= the incident angle between the light ray and the normal to the meduim to medium interface,

Nr

= the refractive index of the medium the light is entering,

Ar

= the refractive angle between the light ray and the normal to the meduim to medium interface.