Ask Science
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
view the rest of the comments
You are seeing changes in the refractive index of air as a result of heat lowering the density of the air. As air comes in contact with the hot surface, it becomes heated and rises through otherwise cool air - The rising air causes eddies and vortexes that lead to light bending in weird ways as it passes through.
The shadows are much like the shadows on the bottom of a pool when there are waves on the surface. Incoming wavefront of light are distorted from planar and sent in different directions, some directions get less total light, some get more.
Great explanation! The anology of the pool was helpful!
"wavefront of light", "distorted from planar" 🤯
You took me straight back to a D- in intro to optics and modern physics where my classmates were trying to solve problems based on concepts, where I was trying to solve the problem of not understanding the concepts.
This video by Steve Mould shows this with wavey acrylic designed to project an image using caustics:
https://youtu.be/wk67eGXtbIw