← ExitLight & Optics · Toward or Away from the Normal1 / 3 · ← → to move · F full screen

For oblique incidence with a transmitted ray (below the critical angle when leaving a higher-index medium), Snell’s law gives a simple rule:

  • Entering a denser medium (higher n) → bends toward the normal.
  • Entering a rarer medium (lower n) → bends away from the normal.