How is refractive index relate to the angle of bending of light?

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How is refractive index relate to the angle of bending of light?

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Answer 1 · 2018-03-01T12:44:21

You can use the Snell's law to judge that,

Suppose light falls at air - object interface,the object has a refractive index $mu>1$ ,so if the angle of incidence is $theta$ , and angle of refraction is $phi$ ,then using Snell's law,

$sin theta = mu sin phi$

or, $sin phi = 1/(mu) sin theta$

Now, $sin theta$ is constant, so higher the value of $mu$ ,lower is the value of $sin phi$ and lower is the value of $phi$ ,and here more bending means,less value of $phi$ ,see the diagram to get how $phi$ is calculated. enter image source here

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How is refractive index relate to the angle of bending of light?

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