When a ray of light travels from optically denser medium to optically rarer medium, it always bends ____ the normal.

Question

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Answer 1

When a ray of light travels from optically denser medium to optically rarer medium, it always bends away from the normal.
According to Snell's Law: $\frac{n _{2}}{n _{1}} = \frac{s i n i}{s i n r}$
For optically denser medium, refractive index $n_{1}$ is greater than that of the rarer medium $n_{2}$ . Thus, the angle of refraction has to be greater than angle of incidence i.e. it bends away from the normal.

Answer 2

When a ray of light travels from optically denser medium to optically rarer medium, it always bends away from the normal.
According to Snell's Law:

\frac{n _{2}}{n _{1}} = \frac{s i n i}{s i n r}

For optically denser medium, refractive index

n_{1}

is greater than that of the rarer medium

n_{2}

. Thus, the angle of refraction has to be greater than angle of incidence i.e. it bends away from the normal.