How Does Ray Of Light Travel?

When a ray of light travels from one medium to another, it is bent and so travels in a new direction. The light is said to have been refracted, and the bending of light is called refraction. Refraction occurs when light travels from one medium to another and takes place at the boundary of the two media. Light travels through air faster than it does through water and glass. It is the change in speed as light enters one medium from another that causes refraction.

For instance, light ray traveling through air are suddenly slowed down as they enter water, and bend in the process. The greater the difference between the speeds of lights in the media, the greater the refraction. The light rays meet the surface if a medium at an angle. The angle the incident rays make with the normal to the surface of the medium is called the angle of incidence. The angle of the refracted ray makes with the normal is called the angle of refraction. If the light travels from air to water it is refracted towards the normal, and if it travels from water to air, the light is refracted away from the normal.

Light does not travel in "rays" it is a wave. To be more specific it is an electromagnetic transverse wave and visible light is just a small section of the electromagnetic spectrum,

• cosmic rays



• gamma rays



• x rays



• ultraviolet



• visible light



• infra red



• microwaves



• radio waves

each of these waves have similar properties, just range in frequency and wavelength. I have listed in decreasing frequency (increasing wavelength). All electromagnetic waves travel at 3 x 10 ^ 8 m/s
Electromagnetic waves have little "packets of energy" called photons. It is a very complicated theory with wave/particle duality etc. !! If you would like more information just ask!!

Light is in the electromagnetic spectrum. This is the same spectrum that contains radio, microwaves, infrared etc. Light travels as a wave in quantized packets called "photons". This has been confirmed by simple experiments that show that it is not in fact a particle and that they travel as photons.

They travel in straight lines.