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Snell's law (also known as the Snell–Descartes law, the ibn-Sahl law, [1] and the law of refraction) is a formula used to describe the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction, when referring to light or other waves passing through a boundary between two different isotropic media, such as water, glass, or air.
Refraction of light is the most commonly observed phenomenon, but other waves such as sound waves and water waves also experience refraction. How much a wave is refracted is determined by the change in wave speed and the initial direction of wave propagation relative to the direction of change in speed.
Wave refraction in the manner of Huygens. In an inhomogeneous medium with a variable index of refraction, different parts of the wavefront propagate at different speeds. Consequently the wavefront bends around in the direction of higher index. [12]: 68 Huygens-Fresnel construction of wave refraction in a medium with variable index of refraction
A simulation with a Boussinesq-type wave model of nearshore waves travelling towards a harbour entrance. The simulation is with the BOUSS-2D module of SMS. Faster than real-time simulation with the Boussinesq module of Celeris, showing wave breaking and refraction near the beach. The model provides an interactive environment.
If the electrons emit a light wave which is 90° out of phase with the light wave shaking them, it will cause the total light wave to travel slower. This is the normal refraction of transparent materials like glass or water, and corresponds to a refractive index which is real and greater than 1. [26] [page needed]
The phase shift of the reflected wave on total internal reflection can similarly be obtained from the phase angles of r p and r s (whose magnitudes are unity in this case). These phase shifts are different for s and p waves, which is the well-known principle by which total internal reflection is used to effect polarization transformations.
Ray tracing of a beam of light passing through a medium with changing refractive index.The ray is advanced by a small amount, and then the direction is re-calculated. Ray tracing works by assuming that the particle or wave can be modeled as a large number of very narrow beams (), and that there exists some distance, possibly very small, over which such a ray is locally straight.
Propagation of a ray through a layer. The transfer-matrix method is a method used in optics and acoustics to analyze the propagation of electromagnetic or acoustic waves through a stratified medium; a stack of thin films.