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The image is at once vivid and memorable: if we try to see through an obscure piece of glass, our vision will be clouded and imperfect. But no glass, no barrier of any kind, will be necessary when we die and come before God ‘face to face’.
May 5, 2016 · If water is clear, why can't we see through it clearly? The answer has to do with how light moves through water, glass and other transparent materials.
Jan 24, 2013 · Why can we see through glass, but not other solid objects. James May explains.Subscribe to Earth Science for more fascinating science videos - http://bit.ly/...
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- Reflection
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- Reflection + Refraction
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- Gravity’S Optical Tricks
Look in a mirror and you’ll see your reflection. The law of reflection is simple: Whatever angle a beam of light makes as it collides with a mirror is the same angle it will have as it bounces off the mirror’s surface. If you shine a flashlight at a 45-degree angle onto your bathroom mirror, it will bounce off at a 45-degree angle. When you see you...
You know how a straw appears to bend as it sits in a glass of water? That’s due to refraction. The law of refraction states that light waves will bend when they move from one medium (such as air) to another (such as water or glass). This is because each medium has a different density, also known as its “optical thickness.” Imagine running along a b...
Reflection and refraction can work together — often with awesome results. Consider the bending of the sun’s light as it passes through Earth’s atmosphere at a low angle. This tends to happen at sunrise or sunset. Sunlight’s bending, or refracting, paints clouds near the horizon in an array of red and orange hues. You may have also noticed that the ...
Lenses are tools that take advantage of light’s ability to bend. By carefully shaping a piece of glass, optical scientists can design lenses that focus light to make clear images. To magnify the appearance of an object, designers often combine a series of lenses. Most lenses are made from glass that has been ground into a very precise shape with a ...
In one of the universe’s most magnificent tricks, intense gravity can act like a lens. If an extremely massive object — such as a galaxy or a black hole — lies between an astronomer and the distant star they are looking at, that star can appear to be in a false spot (much like the ring at the bottom of a pool). The mass of the galaxy actually warps...
If you take a glass prism, you can see that it has 2 triangular bases and three rectangular lateral surfaces inclined at an angle. This angle is called the angle of the prism. Let’s look at a top view of a triangular prism with a ray of light entering it.
If we look at the drawing of our arrow the light travels directly from the arrow to our eyes. If we hold the paper behind a glass of water the arrow looks like it is pointing in the opposite direction. This is because the light gets bent, its refracted, when it travels through water.
Reflection is when light bounces off an object. If the surface is smooth and shiny, like glass, water or polished metal, the light will reflect at the same angle as it hit the surface. This is called specular reflection. Diffuse reflection is when light hits an object and reflects in lots of different directions.
