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The refractive index of water at 20 °C for visible light is 1.33. [1] The refractive index of normal ice is 1.31 (from List of refractive indices). In general, an index of refraction is a complex number with real and imaginary parts, where the latter indicates the strength of absorption loss at a particular wavelength. In the visible part of ...
The refractive index of materials varies with the wavelength of light, [3] and thus the angle of the refraction also varies correspondingly. This is called dispersion and causes prisms and rainbows to divide white light into its constituent spectral colors. [4] A pen partially submerged in a bowl of water appears bent due to refraction at the ...
In the Northern hemisphere, the maximum temperatures at the surface occur through August and September and minimum temperatures occur through February and March with total heat content being lowest in March. [5] This is when the seasonal thermocline starts to build back up after being broken down through the colder months.
Water at the top of the troposphere, particularly in liquid and solid states, cools as it emits net photons to space. Neighboring gas molecules other than water (e.g. nitrogen) are cooled by passing their heat kinetically to the water. This is why temperatures at the top of the troposphere (known as the tropopause) are about -50 degrees Celsius.
A spectacular form of refraction, called the Fata Morgana, occurs with a temperature inversion, in which objects on the horizon or even beyond the horizon (e.g. islands, cliffs, ships, and icebergs) appear elongated and elevated, like "fairy tale castles". [4] Rainbows. These result from a combination of internal reflection and dispersive ...
Young [6] [11] distinguished several regions where different methods for calculating astronomical refraction were applicable. In the upper portion of the sky, with a zenith distance of less than 70° (or an altitude over 20°), various simple refraction formulas based on the index of refraction (and hence on the temperature, pressure, and humidity) at the observer are adequate.
Ocean optics is the study of how light interacts with water and the materials in water. Although research often focuses on the sea, the field broadly includes rivers, lakes, inland waters, coastal waters, and large ocean basins. How light acts in water is critical to how ecosystems function underwater.
Heat of vaporization of water from melting to critical temperature. Water has a very high specific heat capacity of 4184 J/(kg·K) at 20 °C (4182 J/(kg·K) at 25 °C) —the second-highest among all the heteroatomic species (after ammonia), as well as a high heat of vaporization (40.65 kJ/mol or 2268 kJ/kg at the normal boiling point), both of ...