Why do distant objects shimmer on a hot day?


Link to the video- https://youtu.be/9jEFo2CQga4
Have you ever noticed while driving in the highway, the road far ahead seem to have a wet surface? even the cars at that distance also shimmer. Moreover, when you approach closer to the seemingly wet surface, it disappears slowly. This phenomenon is nothing but the effects of refraction of light. The heat is responsible for the shimmering heat waves and it makes the distant cars look wavy.
Refraction of light takes place when travelling light is bent due to change in medium. In this case, the light coming from the distant car travels through various regions of air till it reaches our eyes.  The various regions of air has different temperature and light bending abilities depending on how hot each section of the road happens to be. A particular light ray coming to our eyes will have different path than another light ray due to change in their paths. Now, when it reaches our eyes the brain traces each bend light rays directly straight as usually done with straight light rays, finally the image processed in our brain is a shimmery version of the original and hence it appears that the car itself is bent.

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