What happens when light travels from a medium with a higher index of refraction to one with a lower index?

When light travels from a medium with a higher index of refraction to one with a lower index, it indeed bends away from the normal. This phenomenon is governed by Snell's Law, which states that the ratio of the sines of the angles of incidence and refraction is equivalent to the ratio of the indices of refraction of the two media.

In a scenario where light moves from a medium such as glass (which has a higher index of refraction) to air (which has a lower index), the speed of light increases as it enters the air. As a result of this increase in speed, the light ray refracts and changes direction, moving away from the perpendicular line known as the normal. This bending away is a distinctive characteristic of light behavior when transitioning between materials with differing optical densities.

This principle is crucial for understanding various optical phenomena, including lenses and prisms, which rely on the bending of light to form images and spectrums. Thus, the behavior of light bending away from the normal when passing from a denser medium to a less dense one is an important concept in the study of optics.