All Questions
Tagged with refraction reflection
59
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How are classical optics phenomena explained in QED (Snell's law)?
How is the following classical optics phenomenon explained in quantum electrodynamics?
Reflection and Refraction
Are they simply due to photons being absorbed and re-emitted? How do we get to Snell'...
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12
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1
answer
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How does a one-sided glass work?
How does a one-sided glass work? If seen from the outer side, we can see through thinking it is transparent, while if seen from the inside, the glass acts as a mirror. How?
- 1,847
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Why is rainbow always circular?
From the article that I read on physics classroom website on rainbow, rainbow is formed with red on the top and violet on the bottom because violet refracts more, and has a smaller angle of deviation ...
- 1,361
17
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Why is not everything transparent? [duplicate]
There is a related question on this site here: Why glass is transparent? Which explains that glass is transparent because the atoms in glass have very large energy differences between energy levels ...
- 562
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9
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Why can we only "see" reflected light? [duplicate]
This is a question thats been bothering me a while. I don't even know if it makes sense or not (like if it is a physics question or becoming a philosophical one). But here it goes. The crux of my ...
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How does a rainbow show all of its colours?
My question is tied closely to this one, asked a while back on the website. As far as my understanding goes, a rainbow is formed by sunlight undergoing two refractions and a reflection inside ...
15
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4
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Is true black possible?
Black is the absence of light because it absorbs light, but when we create black paint or black objects, light is always reflected, either in all directions in matte or smoothly in shiny black objects,...
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Why do some materials reflect (metals) and other materials reflect and refract (glass) from the quantum perspective?
Recently I was asked to explain the difference between reflection and total internal reflection from a purely conceptual standpoint (no math).
Let me explain what I already know. Reflection and ...
- 121
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Deriving the law of reflection for a moving mirror in relativity
I am following a training course and came across this proof, from my colleague, that the ordinary law of reflection $\theta_i = \theta_r$ does not hold in relativity:
Let $S$ be a perfectly ...
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1
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Diffraction by blazed grating via reflection: why is the reflection angle diffrent depending on $\lambda$?
Consider a blazed grating as the one in picture. It is possible to obtain a diffraction of a beam of light as in a trasmission grating (diffraction of reflection grating) and different wavelenghts ...
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4
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3
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What makes a rainbow happen?
A rainbow is formed when a raindrop refracts light, but why then does the whole sky not become a huge rainbow when it rains? Would the light not be dispersed into ordinary white light? What causes it ...
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Why are the edges of a broken glass almost opaque?
Unfortunately I broke my specs today which I used in this question.
But I observed that the edges are completely different then the entire part of the lens. The middle portion of the lens was ...
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A Rainbow Paradox
I was studying the phenomena of the formation of a rainbow. In my book, the following diagram is given:
So, the rays at the red end of the spectrum make a larger angle with the incident ray than the ...
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Why does the light at the bottom of the pool form this awesome pattern?
Take a look at the following picture:
Why does the light at the bottom of the water form this pattern? I have also seen the same phenomenon in all the swimming pools I've ever visited, of whatever ...
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