What occurs when light moves from a medium of higher refractive index to lower refractive index?

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When light transitions from a medium with a higher refractive index to one with a lower refractive index, it bends away from the normal line. This bending occurs due to the change in speed of light as it moves between different media. In the medium with a higher refractive index, light travels slower compared to the medium with a lower refractive index, where it travels faster. As light exits the denser medium, it accelerates and thus changes direction, bending away from the normal.

Understanding this behavior is anchored in Snell's Law, which relates the angles of incidence and refraction to the refractive indices of the two media involved. When the refractive index is higher in the first medium, the light's path is more aligned with the normal until it leaves for the lower refractive index medium, causing it to sway outward.

This principle explains why when observing phenomena like a straw in a glass of water, it appears bent at the surface; the light is bending as it moves from water (higher index) to air (lower index), illustrating the fundamental behavior of light at the interface of different materials.