I know that photons/light bends or bounces when it hits glass so if it was in a glass prism where would it go. I know that light/photons hit the glass at different angles and if it hits at almost a straight angle it will escape but why does it escape if it hits at almost a straight angle? I don't really understand Snell's law. Could you look at my profile before answering flagging or leaving a comment please.
[Physics] Where does Light go if it is in a glass prism and why
glassopticsphotonsrefraction
Related Solutions
First, there is a qualitative difference between metal and glass: metal is a conductor, while glass is a dielectric. Under so called "plasma frequency" EM waves do not travel in conductors except that near the surface (see skin effect). For higher frequencies (usually far above the visible light) metal is transparent and refraction does occur. Specifically, answering to your question
What about the electron configuration of a the medium changes the net effect of the absorption and re-emissions of the photons?
Metal has a substantial amount of free electrons, glass doesn't. From the EM point of view, the difference originates from the relative effect of two terms in the Maxwell equation (roughly speaking, the corresponding dimensionless parameter depends on conductivity and wave frequency). From the QM point of view, the interaction with electron gas is substantially different from the interaction with an atom.
When you have hit the critical angle in a medium that refracts and the light completely reflects, are the photons moving is the same manner as they would be in a material that always reflects? How does this connect to the question in the previous paragraph?
Again, from the EM point of view both of these processes result in an evanescent wave and are quite similar. I am not sure what exactly happens with a specific photon (as a particle) here, as the evanescent wave is a general wave effect. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable in QED can provide a QM perspective on this.
If you don't want (ray-based) Snell's law, then we can do it using the wave aspect. BTW the analogy totally stands with water waves, with the depth playing the role of refraction index.
-> when the light waves enter the glass, or when water waves enter shallower water, they slow down and wavelength get shorter. This has the effect of tilting the wavefront, and this is the true cause of change of direction in refraction.
And this tilting effect does not have the same amplitude depending of the wavelength (the distance between wave fronts).
Best Answer
Source: Light entering prism
It goes through the prism and two things happen. The white light gets split into the rainbow of colors and it also gets bent (refracted), because each of the colors is a different wavelength than the others. The colors between red and blue get refracted as well, not as much as red but more refracted than blue.
The light can be reflected or refracted or both, as in the picture below.
The best way to think of Snell's law is to imagine you have to run from a point A to a point C, but on the way you must touch a pole at point B, which is midway between A and C but 50 metres below the straight line connecting A and C. That's the way light works, it gets from A to B and B to C in the shortest time. You should be able to see that on the picture above.
If it went any other way, it would take more time, so the angle it hits B (coming from A), must equal the angle going to C.
I bet you can't think of a quicker way to go this route than the way light goes.