REFRACTION

In physics refraction is the change in direction of a wave passing from one medium to another or
from a gradual change in the medium.[1] Refraction of light is the most commonly observed
phenomenon, but other waves such as sound waves and water waves also experience
refraction. How much a wave is refracted is determined by the change in wave speed and the
initial direction of wave propagation relative to the direction of change in speed.
For light, refraction follows Snell's law, which states that, for a given pair of media, the ratio of the
sines of the angle of incidence θ1 and angle of refraction θ2 is equal to the ratio of phase
velocities (v1 / v2) in the two media, or equivalently, to the indices of refraction (n2 / n1) of the two
media.[2]
Optical prisms and lenses use refraction to redirect light, as does the human eye. The refractive
index of materials varies with the wavelength of light,[3] and thus the angle of the refraction also
varies correspondingly. This is called dispersion and causes prisms and rainbows to divide white
light into its constituent spectral colors.[4]
Refraction of light can be seen in many places in our everyday life. It makes objects under a
water surface appear closer than they really are. It is what optical lenses are based on, allowing
for instruments such as glasses, cameras, binoculars, microscopes, and the human eye.
Refraction is also responsible for some natural optical phenomena
including rainbows and mirages.

Law of refraction
For light, the refractive index n of a material is more often used than the wave phase speed v in
the material. They are, however, directly related through the speed of light in vacuum c as
N=c/v
A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means
of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound
lens consists of several simple lenses (elements), usually arranged along a common axis.
Lenses are made from materials such as glass or plastic, and
are ground and polished or molded to a desired shape. A lens can focus light to form an image,
unlike a prism, which refracts light without focusing. Devices that similarly focus or disperse
waves and radiation other than visible light are also called lenses, such
as microwave lenses, electron lenses, acoustic lenses, or explosive lenses.

Types of simple lenses[edit]

Lenses are classified by the curvature of the two optical surfaces. A lens is biconvex (or double
convex, or just convex) if both surfaces are convex. If both surfaces have the same radius of
curvature, the lens is equiconvex. A lens with two concave surfaces is biconcave (or
just concave). If one of the surfaces is flat, the lens is plano-convex or plano-concave depending
on the curvature of the other surface. A lens with one convex and one concave side is convex-
concave or meniscus. It is this type of lens that is most commonly used in corrective lenses.
If the lens is biconvex or plano-convex, a collimated beam of light passing through the lens
converges to a spot (a focus) behind the lens. In this case, the lens is called
a positive or converging lens. For a thin lens in air, the distance from the lens to the spot is
the focal length of the lens, which is commonly represented by f in diagrams and equations.
An extended hemispherical lens is a special type of plano-convex lens, in which the lens's curved
surface is a full hemisphere and the lens is much thicker than the radius of curvature.

Magnification is the process of enlarging the apparent size, not physical size, of something. This
enlargement is quantified by a calculated number also called "magnification". When this number
is less than one, it refers to a reduction in size, sometimes called minification or de-magnification.

Typically, magnification is related to scaling up visuals or images to be able to see more detail,
increasing resolution, using microscope, printing techniques, or digital processing. In all cases,
the magnification of the image does not change the perspective of the image.