Can you explain Snell's law of refraction?

Snell's law of refraction states that the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is constant.

When light passes from one medium to another, its speed changes and it bends. The amount of bending depends on the angle at which the light hits the surface and the properties of the two media. Snell's law of refraction provides a mathematical relationship between the angles and the refractive indices of the two media.

The law can be expressed as n1sinθ1 = n2sinθ2, where n1 and n2 are the refractive indices of the two media, θ1 is the angle of incidence, and θ2 is the angle of refraction. The refractive index is a measure of how much a material slows down light compared to a vacuum. It is a dimensionless quantity.

The law has many applications in optics, including the design of lenses, prisms, and optical fibres. It also explains why light appears to bend when passing through a glass of water or why a straw in a glass of water appears to be bent.

Snell's law of refraction is an important concept in physics and is essential for understanding the behaviour of light in different media. It is a fundamental principle that is used in many fields of science and engineering.