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Why does a mirage occur? Pls. explain in detail

Dear Student,
The air receives heat from the surface of road through conduction which then is transferred to air above it via convection.
Since the air closest to the road is hottest its density decreases, due to which it has lesser index of refraction than the air above it which is relatively cold.
When light rays coming from objects travel through this gradually rarer air, it bends away from the normal. The light keeps on bending away from the normal as it reaches near the road and becomes parallel to the road at last. This causes us to see image of those objects on the road, which creates an illusion that there is water. This phenomenon is called Mirage.

I hope you find the solution helpful.
Keep asking questions, keep learning.
Regards

 

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During summers air near ground becomes hotter having low refractive index than cold air. light rays coming from a tall tree move from cold air to hot air downwards i.e. refractive index decreases i.e. denser to rarer hence light rays move away from normal. thus image of tree is formed inverted on the ground and it seems that there is water which reflects the image of tree. This is Mirage effect. Hope , it helps.
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Nikita .... Exams over ??
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Yaaa
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Board ni hue......5 march se h
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pata hai. mere bhi 5 se h. Bio or maths ?
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Mirage occurs due to refraction of light rays. When the ground is hot and the air above it is cold, then the air just above the ground gets heated by the ground while the air high above remains cool. So when light passes from a medium of cool air to hot air, due to refraction of light rays Mirage occurs.
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