Printer Friendly
The Free Dictionary
1,082,287,121 visitors served.
?
Dictionary/
thesaurus
Medical
dictionary
Legal
dictionary
Financial
dictionary
Acronyms
 
Idioms
Encyclopedia
Wikipedia
encyclopedia
?

Snell's law
(redirected from Snell law)

    Also found in: Wikipedia 0.02 sec.
Snell's law: see refraction refraction, in physics, deflection of a wave on passing obliquely from one transparent medium into a second medium in which its speed is different, as the passage of a light ray from air into glass.
..... Click the link for more information. .

Snell's law

Relationship between the path taken by a ray of light as it moves from one medium to another and the refractive indices of the two media. Discovered in 1621 by Willebrord Snell (1580–1626), the law went unpublished until its mention by Christiaan Huygens. If n1 and n2 represent the indices of refraction of two media, and θ1 and θ2 are the angles of incidence and refraction that a ray of light makes with the line perpendicular to the boundary (the normal), Snell's law states that n1/n2 = sin θ2/sin θ1. Because the ratio n1/n2 is a constant for any given wavelength of light, the ratio of the two sines is also a constant for any angle.



How to thank TFD for its existence? Tell a friend about us, add a link to this page, add the site to iGoogle, or visit webmaster's page for free fun content.
?Page tools
Printer friendly
Cite / link
 Email
Feedback
? Mentioned in
 
Encyclopedia browser? ? Full browser
 
 
Encyclopedia
?

Disclaimer | Privacy policy | Feedback | Copyright © 2008 Farlex, Inc.
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.. Terms of Use.