Which of the following best explains why a pencil partially immersed in water appears bent at the surface?
Light changes direction as it moves from air to water
Light travels at different speeds in different media, moving faster in air than in water, which is an optically denser medium.
When light rays travelling from the submerged part of the pencil pass from water into air, they bend, or refract, at the water surface due to this change in speed.
Because the rays reaching our eyes from the submerged and the exposed parts of the pencil follow different paths, the pencil appears to be bent or displaced at the point where it enters the water.
Hence, a pencil appears bent because light changes direction as it moves from air to water.
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