Definition of Refrection
Refraction. Light travels in straight lines; but when a ray
travelling through one medium passes obliquely into another of either
greater or less density it is bent at the point of incidence. This
bending or breaking is called refraction. The apparent bend in a stick
set sloping in a sheet of water is due to this phenomenon, as are also
many mirages and other optical illusions.
- Wikipedia
Re*frac"tion (r?*fr?k"sh?n), n. [F.
réfraction.] 1. The act of
refracting, or the state of being refracted.
2. The change in the direction of ray of
light, heat, or the like, when it enters obliquely a medium of a
different density from that through which it has previously
moved.
Refraction out of the rarer medium into the
denser, is made towards the perpendicular. Sir I.
Newton.
3. (Astron.) (a) The
change in the direction of a ray of light, and, consequently, in the
apparent position of a heavenly body from which it emanates, arising
from its passage through the earth's atmosphere; -- hence
distinguished as atmospheric refraction, or astronomical
refraction. (b) The correction which is to
be deducted from the apparent altitude of a heavenly body on account
of atmospheric refraction, in order to obtain the true
altitude.
Angle of refraction (Opt.), the angle
which a refracted ray makes with the perpendicular to the surface
separating the two media traversed by the ray. -- Conical
refraction (Opt.), the refraction of a ray of
light into an infinite number of rays, forming a hollow cone. This
occurs when a ray of light is passed through crystals of some
substances, under certain circumstances. Conical refraction is of two
kinds; external conical refraction, in which the ray issues
from the crystal in the form of a cone, the vertex of which is at the
point of emergence; and internal conical refraction, in which
the ray is changed into the form of a cone on entering the crystal,
from which it issues in the form of a hollow cylinder. This singular
phenomenon was first discovered by Sir W. R. Hamilton by mathematical
reasoning alone, unaided by experiment. -- Differential
refraction (Astron.), the change of the apparent
place of one object relative to a second object near it, due to
refraction; also, the correction required to be made to the observed
relative places of the two bodies. -- Double
refraction (Opt.), the refraction of light in two
directions, which produces two distinct images. The power of double
refraction is possessed by all crystals except those of the isometric
system. A uniaxial crystal is said to be optically positive
(like quartz), or optically negative (like calcite), or to have
positive, or negative, double refraction,
according as the optic axis is the axis of least or greatest
elasticity for light; a biaxial crystal is similarly designated when
the same relation holds for the acute bisectrix. -- Index
of refraction. See under Index. --
Refraction circle (Opt.), an instrument
provided with a graduated circle for the measurement of
refraction. -- Refraction of latitude,
longitude, declination,
right ascension, etc., the change in the
apparent latitude, longitude, etc., of a heavenly body, due to the
effect of atmospheric refraction. -- Terrestrial
refraction, the change in the apparent altitude of a
distant point on or near the earth's surface, as the top of a
mountain, arising from the passage of light from it to the eye through
atmospheric strata of varying density.
- Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Noun
- The turning or bending of any wave, such as a light or sound wave, when it passes from one medium into another of different optical density.
- The Nuttall Encyclopedia
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