Question

Why light do not refract through a wood or metal like iron or some other things why it reflects or bounce back from these surface? Glass slab is also a solid so why light refract in it?

Answer 1

Dear student,

An opaque object is something that allows no light through it. Concrete, wood, and metal are some examples of opaque materials.

If you switched on a torch and let the light pass through the glass window, you can still see the light on the other side of the glass surface. This is because almost all the light rays emitting from the torch source pass through that transparent object.

Therefore we can say that transparent objects are those which allow almost all light rays to pass through them. For example, glass surfaces, water and even air, if you think about it.

And also in optics, refraction is a phenomenon that often occurs when waves travel from a medium with a given refractive index to a medium with another at an oblique angle. At the boundary between the media, the wave's phase velocity is altered, usually causing a change in direction.

Regards