Thought of the day_13_Does light follow momentum conservation?

When a light is refracted at the boundary of two mediums then it bends either towards or away from normal, how his bending can be explained keeping in view of conservation of momentum?

#ElectricityAndMagnetism #ConservationOfMomentum #Optics #Refraction #Emwaves

Easy Math Editor

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Comments

Light carries energy; some of that energy is imparted to the new medium so there really isn't conservation of momentum unless you consider both the light and the material which it passes through as a system. Only then is it isolated.

Jake Lai - 5 years, 11 months ago

Math	Appears as
Remember to wrap math in `\(` ... `\)` or `\[` ... `\]` to ensure proper formatting.
`2 \times 3`	$2 \times 3$
`2^{34}`	$2^{34}$
`a_{i-1}`	$a_{i-1}$
`\frac{2}{3}`	$\frac{2}{3}$
`\sqrt{2}`	$\sqrt{2}$
`\sum_{i=1}^3`	$\sum_{i=1}^3$
`\sin \theta`	$\sin \theta$
`\boxed{123}`	$\boxed{123}$