Skip to Main Content
PhET Home Page
University of Colorado
Created 3/25/18. Updates available online.

Bending Light

Bending Light Screenshot
  • Snell's Law
  • Refraction
  • Reflection
Java Logo Original Sim and Translations

About

Topics

  • Snell's Law
  • Refraction
  • Reflection
  • Optics
  • Prisms
  • Lenses
  • Light

Description

Explore bending of light between two media with different indices of refraction. See how changing from air to water to glass changes the bending angle. Play with prisms of different shapes and make rainbows.

Sample Learning Goals

  • Explain how light bends at the interface between two media and what determines the angle.
  • Apply Snell’s law to a laser beam incident on the interface between media.
  • Describe how the speed and wavelength of light changes in different media.
  • Describe the effect of changing wavelength on the angle of refraction.
  • Explain how a prism creates a rainbow.
Version 1.1.7

For Teachers

Teacher Tips

Download teacher tips PDF Overview of sim controls, model simplifications, and insights into student thinking ( PDF ).

Teacher-Submitted Activities

Title Gold Star Contribution Contribution by PhET Authors Level Type
Wave unit (Inquiry Based) A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines. This contribution was designed by PhET. Trish Loeblein UG-Intro
HS		 Lab
Demo
Alignment of PhET sims with NGSS This contribution was designed by PhET. Trish Loeblein HS Other
How do PhET simulations fit in my middle school program? This contribution was designed by PhET. Sarah Borenstein MS Other
PhET Sims Aligned to the Chemistry Curriculum This contribution was designed by PhET. Julia Chamberlain HS
UG-Intro		 Other
Bending-Light Worksheet Madhuri Ganapathi HS HW
MS and HS TEK to Sim Alignment Elyse Zimmer HS
MS		 Other
Discovering Snell's law Jonathan Carlson HS
UG-Intro		 Lab
HW
Guided
Refraction and Snell's Law Lab Kristin Michalski HS Lab
Wave Refraction Simon Lees HS Lab
Guided
HW
Determining Speed and Intensity of Light during Refraction Simon Lees HS Lab
Guided
HW
Reflection in a plane surface Simon Lees HS Lab
Guided
HW
Bending Light Lab! Jamie Schoenberger MS Lab
Guided
Bending Light Student Worksheet Lucy Kulbago HS
MS		 Lab
Guided
Preguntas de razonamiento para todas las simulaciones HTML5 A gold star indicates high-quality, inquiry-based activities that follow the PhET design guidelines. This contribution was designed by PhET. Diana López MS
K-5
HS
UG-Adv
Grad
UG-Intro		 HW
Discuss
pc-labo: lichtbreking Maarten Vervecken MS Lab
光の屈折 Hiroto Kuninaka, Akira Ogihara, Taichiro Goto MS Guided
Lab
Verificação da lei de Snell e cálculo do índice de refração desconhecido andre borba MS Lab
Medir la velocidad de la luz. Patricia Abdel Rahim UG-Intro Lab

Browse more activities.

Share an Activity!

Translations

Language Download or Run Tips
Basque All Basque Run now Kurbaketa-argia
Belarusian All беларускі Run now Праламленне святла
Bosnian All Bosanski Run now Prelamanje svjetlosti
Bulgarian All български Run now Пречупване на светлината
Chinese (Simplified) All 中文 (中国) Run now 光的折射
Chinese (Traditional) All 中文 (台灣) Run now Bending Light_光的折射
Croatian All hrvatski Run now Lom svjetlosti
Czech All čeština Run now Lom světla
Danish All Dansk Run now Afbøjning af lys
Dutch All Nederlands Run now Lichtbreking
Estonian All Eesti Run now Valguse murdumine
Finnish All suomi Run now Taittuva valo
French All français Run now Déviation de la lumière
German All Deutsch Run now Lichtbrechung
Greek All Ελληνικά Run now Διάθλαση φωτός
Hebrew All עברית Run now שבירת אור
Hungarian All magyar Run now Fénytörés
Irish All Gaeilge Run now Solas lúbtha
Italian All italiano Run now Rifrazione della luce
Japanese All 日本語 Run now 光の屈折
Kannada All Kannada Run now ಬಾಗುವ ಬೆಳಕು
Kazakh All Kazakh Run now Bending Light
Korean All 한국어 Run now 빛의 굴절
Latvian All Latviešu Run now Gaismas laušana
Maori All Maori Run now Te Piko o te Aho
Marathi All मराठी Run now प्रकाशाचे अपवर्तन
Norwegian Bokmal All Norsk bokmål Run now Avbøyning av lys
Oriya All Oriya Run now ଆଲୋକ ର ଦିଗ ପରିବର୍ତ୍ତନ
Persian All فارسی Run now شکست نور
Polish All polski Run now Odbicie i załamanie światła
Portuguese (Brazil) All português (Brasil) Run now Desvio da Luz
Romanian All română Run now Refracția luminii
Russian All русский Run now Преломление света
Serbian All Српски Run now Преламање светлости
Sinhalese All Sinhalese Run now ආලෝක වර්තනය
Slovak All Slovenčina Run now Lom svetla
Slovenian All Slovenščina Run now Širjenje svetlobe
Spanish All español Run now Reflexión y Refracción de la Luz
Spanish (Mexico) All español (México) Run now Reflexión y Refracción de la Luz
Spanish (Peru) All español (Perú) Run now Curvando la luz
Spanish (Spain) All español (España) Run now Reflexión y refracción de la luz
Swedish All svenska Run now Ljusets brytning
Tamil All Tamil Run now ஔி வலைவு
Thai All ไทย Run now แสงที่หักเห
Tibetan All Tibetan Run now འོད་འཁྱོག་པ།
Turkish All Türkçe Run now Bükülen Işık
Ukrainian All українська Run now Заломлення світла
Vietnamese All Tiếng Việt Run now Khúc xạ ánh sáng

Software Requirements

Windows 7+ Mac OS 10.7+ iPad and iPad Mini with iOS Chromebook with Chrome OS
Microsoft Edge and Internet Explorer 11, latest version of Firefox, latest version of Chrome.
Safari 9+, latest version of Firefox, latest version of Chrome.
Latest version of Safari
Latest version of Chrome

Credits

Design Team Third-party Libraries Thanks To
  • Amy Rouinfar (lead)
  • Sam Reid (developer)
  • Noah Podolefsky
  • Trish Loeblein
  • Ariel Paul
  • Kathy Perkins
  • undefined
  • Actual Concepts
English
©2018 University of Colorado.
Some rights reserved.