Leumas Physics

Critical Angle

theta_c = asin(n2/n1)

What it says

Past this angle light is completely reflected instead of leaving the denser medium — how fibre optics work.

Symbols

SymbolQuantityDimension
theta_cCritical angle (rad)1
n1Denser index (dimensionless)1
n2Rarer index (dimensionless)1

Work it out

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Fill in all but one: n1, n2, theta_c are all empty.

Connects to

Filed under Optics · derive through it in the explorer