What occurs when light bends around objects?

When light bends around objects, the phenomenon observed is known as diffraction. This occurs when light travels through narrow openings or around edges, causing the light waves to spread out and change direction. The bending of light in diffraction can lead to patterns of light and dark bands, which are a result of constructive and destructive interference from those waves.

Diffraction is a significant behavior of light that can be seen in various scenarios, such as the patterns created when light passes through a small slit or around the edges of an object. This characteristic is essential in understanding how waves, including light, interact with obstacles in their path.

Refraction, on the other hand, involves the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another with a different density, such as from air into water. Reflection refers to the bouncing back of light when it hits a surface, while dispersion is the separation of light into its constituent colors due to different degrees of refraction.

Understanding diffraction is pivotal in fields such as optics and wave physics, as it affects how we perceive light in various applications, including lenses and optical instruments.