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Definition of Critical angle
1. Noun. The smallest angle of incidence for which light is totally reflected.
Definition of Critical angle
1. Noun. (physics) The smallest angle of incidence for which light is totally reflected from a boundary between one medium and a less refractive one ¹
2. Noun. (context: aerodynamics) The smallest angle of attack of an airfoil at which lift suddenly decreases and drag suddenly increases ¹
3. Noun. (architecture) The smallest angle of a ramp or stairs considered uncomfortable or unsafe ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Medical Definition of Critical angle
1. The angle of incidence at which a ray of light, in passing between two media, changes from refraction to total reflection. Synonym: limiting angle. (05 Mar 2000)
Lexicographical Neighbors of Critical Angle
Literary usage of Critical angle
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Mathematical and Physical Papers by Sir George Gabriel Stokes, Baron John William Strutt Rayleigh (1883)
"ON THE FORMATION OF THE CENTRAL SPOT OF NEWTON'S KINGS BEYOND THE critical angle.
[Read December 11, 1848.] WHEN Newton's Rings are formed between the under ..."
2. Refraction and how to refract by James Thorington (1900)
"The size of the critical angle depends upon the index of refraction of different
substances ... critical angle. will be refracted and pass out of the water, ..."
3. Manual of Petrographic Methods by Albert Johannsen (1918)
"Total Reflection and the critical angle. ... The critical angle (M). .CA sin A ,
sin Mi -.- ,,=«, and . . = • sin M sin An That is, we now have M as the ..."
4. Light for Students by Edwin Edser (1920)
"If ON is normal to the surface, the angle BON is , the critical angle. ...
For crown glass, n — 1'5- Thus, the critical angle is one of ..."
5. A Treatise on Physical Optics by Alfred Barnard Basset (1892)
"Under these circumstances it is found, that as soon as the critical angle is
passed, the rings disappear, but the central black spot remains. ..."
6. College Physics by John Oren Reed, Karl Eugen Guthe (1911)
"critical angle. When light passes from a denser to a rarer medium, as from water to
... The angle LON' is called the critical angle, since for this angle of ..."
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