〈 Berger | Dillon 〉

Any light scientists or vegetable oil scientists wanna explain this to me like I’m 5?

Light changes its path when it enters a medium. The larger the medium's "refractive index" (𝘯) is, the more it will "bend". That's why a straw under water looks bent, and also why you can see an otherwise transparent material, such as glass. Namely because 𝘯_glass ≠ 𝘯_air.

But if light travels between two materials which happen to have the same 𝘯, then it doesn't change its path, and then we can't see it (unless of course the material has some color).

I said like I’m 5. But… so the light’s exiting the beaker like... a kid’s drawing of a sun, and no matter where you stand, the right rays won’t hit your eye or something??