Sometimes when I see sunlight shining on a surface, if I look hard enough I can see what looks like waves in the light. It almost looks like a pool’s surface when the light refracts off the moving waves. What am I seeing? Is it an illusion? Is it the movement of light or the air?
In: Physics
Answer: Light travels through different things at different speeds. when you are looking at rippling clear water you are seeing the light move differently because it goes through the water differently than it goes through air and where they come together it bends the light differently.
In hot air the little bits of air have more energy and they push each other farther away from each other. You can fit more small kids on a rug if they sit quietly than if they are jumping around and spinning with their arms out. Since there are fewer bits of air (molecules) in that space it is less dense. Just as light goes through water differently than through air it goes through dense air differently than through less dense air.
This is what causes the ripples and mirages that make the road ahead look wet when it isn’t. There the light is being bent to reflect the sky.
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