A straight stick partly dipped in water obliquely, appears to be bent at the surface of water. Explain.

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Solution

The light rays from the tip of the stick gets refracted on the interface of the two media, i.e., air and water.
Since the light rays are traveling from a denser medium (water) to a rarer medium (air), they bend away from the normal and reach the person's eyes.
When the refracted light ray reaching the person's eyes is extended in the water, we get the apparent position of the tip of the stick.
Therefore, the stick seems distorted or bent at the surface of the water.

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