About Bending Light
Explore bending of light between two media with different indices of refraction. See how changing from air to water to glass changes the bending angle. Play with prisms of different shapes and make rainbows.
How to play Bending Light
Everything is hands-on: drag, click and experiment — the simulation reacts instantly. Explore bending of light between two media with different indices of refraction.
Questions & answers
- What is Bending Light?
- Bending Light is a free interactive simulation from PhET Interactive Simulations (University of Colorado Boulder) that you can play right in your browser on crumble.lol — no downloads and no sign-up. Explore bending of light between two media with different indices of refraction. See how changing from air to water to glass changes the bending angle.
- What can kids learn from Bending Light?
- It helps kids explore: explain how light bends at the interface between two media and what determines the angle. apply snell’s law to a laser beam incident on the interface between media. describe how the speed and wavelength of light changes in different media. describe the effect of changing wavelength on the angle of refraction. explain how a prism creates a rainbow.
- What age is Bending Light good for?
- It is designed for elementary school (roughly ages 5–10) up to university, and curious kids outside that range can absolutely enjoy poking around it too.
- Is Bending Light free to play?
- Yes — Bending Light is completely free on crumble.lol and runs fully in your browser on computers and tablets.