All Questions
Tagged with refraction reflection
307
questions
50
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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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36
votes
4
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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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33
votes
3
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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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27
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White full moon reflected orange-red light off of Atlantic Ocean surface. Why is this?
I was flying over the Atlantic at night in near complete darkness. There was a white, bright full moon. It’s moonglade (the light reflected off the waters surface) was a orange-red color and not white....
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21
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4
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Spherical mirrors or parabolic mirrors?
I am a high school student and have learnt about how curved surfaces reflect and refract (in "ray optics").
We were always told that these surfaces were spherical in shape, meaning they were ...
- 377
20
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2
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Would you see a rainbow from refraction when the sun is in front of you?
I know how rainbows are formed, and why.
Usually it is said that the Sun must be behind the observer, in order for its light to be totally reflected inside the droplet and then reach the observer.
...
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17
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1
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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
16
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6
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Why can I see the top of objects in a reflection when they are not facing the reflective surface?
Why am I able to see the top of the pictures even though they aren’t facing the reflexive surface.
The light would have to travel down through the picture
- 502
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Reverse of diffraction
Can we arrange a practical in such a way that the dark and bright bands in diffraction grating be allowed to pass through the same slit to get the original light (i.e the incident light before ...
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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1
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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 ...
- 2,780
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Why does light not polarise off metallic surface?
I am aware that light partially polarizes upon reflection off a non-metallic surface, however, why is it that this only occurs for non-metallic surfaces?
- 1,720
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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?
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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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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 ...
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