Bending Light

Snell's Law
Light
Refraction

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Snell's Law
Light
Refraction

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 1.03

For Teachers

Teacher Tips

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

Teacher-Submitted Activities

Title	Authors	Level	Type
Wave unit (Inquiry Based)	Trish Loeblein	UG-Intro HS	Demo Lab
Exploring How Light Behaves at Boundaries	Elyse Zimmer	HS	Lab
Bending Light Exploration Lab	Cynthia Bordash	K-5	Lab
Refraction Investigation	John Macuk	HS	Lab
Bending Light -Refraction and Reflections	Danny Rehn	UG-Adv UG-Intro	HW Lab
Alignment of PhET sims with NGSS	Trish Loeblein	HS	Other
How do PhET simulations fit in my middle school program?	Sarah Borenstein	MS	Other
PhET Sims Aligned to the Chemistry Curriculum	Julia Chamberlain	HS UG-Intro	Other
MS and HS TEK to Sim Alignment	Elyse Zimmer	MS HS	Other
Refraction and Snell's Law Lab	Kristin Michalski	HS	Lab
PHET Digtial Wave Lab	Martin Hofkamp	MS HS K-5	Lab HW
Critical Angle & Total Internal Reflection	Simon Lees	HS	HW Lab Guided
Refraction and Snell's Law	Simon Lees	HS	HW Lab Guided
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
Light and Waves E-Learning Activity	Gregory O'Neill	HS	CQs
Snell's Law and the Index of Refraction	Daniel Nieman	HS	Lab
Bending Light	Dorian McIntire	MS HS UG-Intro	Demo HW CQs Lab
Refraction of Light	Ayesha Ayub	K-5	Lab
PhET Inquiry - Bending Light	Paul Martenis	HS	Lab
Total Internal Reflection	Shawn Templin	HS	Lab
Bending Light Worksheet	Kristy Bibbey	HS	CQs Lab
Snell's law Lab - Inquiry based	Argirios Paschos	HS	Lab
Praktische opdracht breking en terugkaatsing Havo 4	Kees Lazonder	HS	Lab
PEMANTULAN	dwi sulistyorini	MS	Lab
光の屈折	Hiroto Kuninaka, Akira Ogihara, Taichiro Goto	MS	Guided Lab
Simulações no Ensino de Fisica	Carla Tavares	HS	Discuss MC Guided Lab Other HW Demo
Curvando a luz	y' e y"	HS	Other
Medir la velocidad de la luz.	Patricia Abdel Rahim	UG-Intro	Lab
REFRACCION DE LA LUZ	daniel cruz ochoa	MS	Lab
Laboratorio de Refracción	Jesús Alfredo Mantilla Lobo	HS	Lab

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Translations

Language
Arabic	All العربية	انكسار الضوء
Basque	All Basque	Argi-errefrakzioa
Belarusian	All беларускі	Праламленне святла
Bosnian	All Bosanski	Prelamanje svjetlosti
Bulgarian	All български	Пречупване на светлината
Chinese (Simplified)	All 中文 (中国)	折射定律
Chinese (Traditional)	All 中文 (台灣)	光的折射
Czech	All čeština	Lom světla
Danish	All Dansk	Afbøjning af lys
Dutch	All Nederlands	Breking en terugkaatsing van licht
Finnish	All suomi	Valon taittuminen
French	All français	Déviation de la lumière
Galician	All Gallegan	Curvando a luz
Georgian	All Georgian	რეფრაქციის მოვლენა
German	All Deutsch	Lichtbrechung
Greek	All Ελληνικά	Διάθλαση του φωτός
Hebrew	All עברית	שבירת אור
Hungarian	All magyar	Fénytörés
Indonesian	All Bahasa Indonesia	Pembelokan / Pembiasan Cahaya
Italian	All italiano	Rifrazione della Luce
Japanese	All 日本語	光の屈折
Kannada	All Kannada	ಬೆಳಕಿನ ವಕ್ರೀಭವನ
Kazakh	All Kazakh	жарық бүгілісі
Khmer	All Khmer	ពន្លឺងាកនៃកាំរស្មី
Korean	All 한국어	빛 굴절
Kurdish	All کوردی	لادانی رووناکی
Lao	All Lao	ການສະທ້ອນແສງ
Macedonian	All македонски	Прекршување на светлината
Marathi	All मराठी	प्रकाशाचे अपवर्तन
Norwegian Bokmal	All Norsk bokmål	Avbøyning av lys
Persian	All فارسی	شکست نور
Polish	All polski	załamanie światła
Portuguese	All português	Desviando Luz
Portuguese (Brazil)	All português (Brasil)	Curvando a Luz
Romanian	All română	Refracţia luminii
Russian	All русский	Преломление света
Serbian	All Српски	Преламање светлости
Slovak	All Slovenčina	Lom svetla
Slovenian	All Slovenščina	Lom svetlobe
Spanish	All español	Torciendo la luz
Spanish (Mexico)	All español (México)	Torciendo la luz
Spanish (Peru)	All español (Perú)	Curvando la Luz
Swedish	All svenska	Böja ljus
Thai	All ไทย	การหักเหแสง
Turkish	All Türkçe	Işığın Kırılması
Turkmen	All Turkmen	Ýagtylygyň egilmesi
Ukrainian	All українська	Заломлення світла
Vietnamese	All Tiếng Việt	Khúc xạ ánh sáng