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New answers tagged geometric-optics

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Newton literally wrote the book on Optics and knew perfectly well how to predict refraction. He did posit a speculation on the reasons for refraction - that is, light was composed of tiny, very subtle pieces which were subject to kinematic laws and had the tendency to accelerate towards regions of higher density, an interaction in which they exchanged some ...

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This is not how photons are viewed. They are not moving particles in the Newtonian sense, and this has to do with the wave-particle duality of quantum theory. Light is absorbed by matter like a particle but propagates like a wave. Photons are the quanta of energy passed to matter. So refraction is an example of the wavelike nature of light, not the curved ...

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When the sun is behind the observer, a beam of light from the sun which passes close to the observer points to the center of curvature of the rainbow. With the sun somewhat above the observer, this center will lie below the horizon. A parallel beam (at some distance to the observer) strikes a raindrop, is refracted into the drop, reflects from the back ...

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So what we actually see as a rainbow? We see an image of the sun in a giant mirror with a lot of chromatic aberration and a lot of spherical aberration. However, as the round shape of the drops only steers the reflected light back in a cone shape, there is a specific angle between the sun, the drop and the observer to make it happen.

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Here's what I'm able to comprehend: When visible light between (400-700) enters a raindrop normally as a spherical, physical object that allows light to pass, such as being transparent, the more transparent it is, the clearer the refraction occurs. Because of this, it bounces off of the back of the raindrop, and if circumstances permit, if the angle is ...

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Ok so light splits like it does in a rainbow when it passes through a prism such as a raindrop The reason it fans out and doesn’t just reach your eye as it normally would is because of lights wave like properties. Because white is comprised of all colors. And each of these colors (wavelengths) of light refract slightly differently. The colors fan out in ...

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This equation $$n_g \cos\alpha + n_a \left(1 - \cos\theta \right) = \frac{N \lambda}{2t}.$$ is wrong because you dropped the $-n_gt$ that was in your starting equation. The correct equation should be $$n_a \left(1 - \cos\theta \right) - n_g \left(1- \cos\alpha\right)= \frac{N \lambda}{2t}.$$ As ...

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An interesting paper about the same issue can be found here. Same formula as the Lindqvist Paper I've already cited : https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/47/072/47072985.pdf?r=1

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