Bending Light

Light bending is a natural process we commonly observe when a rainbow is formed. This principle is nowadays adopted by various industries, from building optical devices to creating visual entertainment. Bending Light is a smart application designed for scholastic purposes, helping students or anyone interested in practical simulations involving refraction, reflection, prism, lenses, or the Snell's Law.

Light bending seems to be a more lightweight subject, judging by the lightweight interface. Also, the application can be launched using Java or HTML, the latter being the easiest to access.

To get accustomed to how the simulations are created and run, one should take a gander at the Intro tab. The light source tool is the main piece here. You can start by adjusting its angle, and choosing the light output between Ray or Wave. Moving forward, you must determine the material through which the beam is going to travel. The main materials are Air, Glass, and Water, and each comes with its own refraction index.

Power up the laser tool and the beam will travel according to its angle and the selected environment.

Move to the Prims tab to get access to half a dozen geometric shapes that can be dragged onto the canvas in order to showcase how light refracts through any of them. You can also check the random reflection the prism generates using the same environments found in the Intro. For angle measurements, check the protractor box to spawn the tool and execute your calculations.

In essence, Bending Light is a learning tool dedicated to everyone interested in how a laser beam bends through different materials and environments. The app itself is not difficult to use, but possessing a basic set of related physics knowledge will greatly improve the understanding of the simulations.