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Atmospheric refraction is the deviation of light or other electromagnetic wave from a straight line as it passes through the atmosphere due to the variation in air density as a function of height. [1] This refraction is due to the velocity of light through air decreasing (the refractive index increases) with increased
The relation between the refractive index and the density of silicate and borosilicate glasses [50] In general, it is assumed that the refractive index of a glass increases with its density. However, there does not exist an overall linear relationship between the refractive index and the density for all silicate and borosilicate glasses.
Refraction at interface. Many materials have a well-characterized refractive index, but these indices often depend strongly upon the frequency of light, causing optical dispersion. Standard refractive index measurements are taken at the "yellow doublet" sodium D line, with a wavelength (λ) of 589 nanometers.
When atmospheric refraction is considered, ray tracing becomes necessary (Kivalov 2007), and the absolute air mass integral becomes [7] = where is the index of refraction of air at the observer's elevation above sea level, is the index of refraction at elevation above sea level, = +, = + is the distance from the center of the Earth to a ...
The density of air at sea level is about 1.2 kg/m 3 (1.2 g/L, 0.0012 g/cm 3). Density is not measured directly but is calculated from measurements of temperature, pressure and humidity using the equation of state for air (a form of the ideal gas law). Atmospheric density decreases as the altitude increases.
At 20 °C and 101.325 kPa, dry air has a density of 1.2041 kg/m 3. At 70 °F and 14.696 psi, dry air has a density of 0.074887 lb/ft 3. The following table illustrates the air density–temperature relationship at 1 atm or 101.325 kPa: [citation needed]
at each geopotential altitude, where g is the standard acceleration of gravity, and R specific is the specific gas constant for dry air (287.0528J⋅kg −1 ⋅K −1). The solution is given by the barometric formula. Air density must be calculated in order to solve for the pressure, and is used in calculating dynamic pressure for moving vehicles.
where d 1 and d 2 are the distances of the ray passing through medium 1 or 2, n 1 is the greater refractive index (e.g., glass) and n 2 is the smaller refractive index (e.g., air). See also [ edit ]