reflection and refraction

[yjj8817]

---

Members don't see this ad.

How can you tell which one will occur when a light strikes a boundary between two different medium?

 

[texasdevil]

Reflection and refraction will always occur unless the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle. Under this situation, only reflection occurs (hence the term, total internal reflection). The critical angle is defined as Theta_crit = arcsin(n_2 / n_1) where n_2 is the index of refraction of the medium the light is traveling into and n_1 is IoR of the medium the light is traveling from. Therefore, total internal reflection can only occur when traveling from a higher index of refraction material into a lower index of refraction material.

 

[yjj8817]

Reflection and refraction will always occur unless the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle. Under this situation, only reflection occurs (hence the term, total internal reflection). The critical angle is defined as Theta_crit = arcsin(n_2 / n_1) where n_2 is the index of refraction of the medium the light is traveling into and n_1 is IoR of the medium the light is traveling from. Therefore, total internal reflection can only occur when traveling from a higher index of refraction material into a lower index of refraction material.

So does this mean that reflection and refraction occur together at the boundary between two different medium?

 

[texasdevil]

Assuming total integral reflection is NOT occurring, you are correct. You can probably look up "reflection refraction water" to get an idea of what happens. This also assumes that light can pass through both media (refraction will not happen between light and concrete, for example)