Chapter 12 — THE GOVERNING FUNDAMENTALS OF METEOROLOGY 



Vs. 



s 4f<e 



%, 



% 



REFRACTION OF LIGHT BY A PRISM. THE LONGEST RAYS ARE INFRARED; THE SHORTEST, ULTRAVIOLET. 



10-6 10" 4 10- 2 



i i i i i l. 



COSMIC 

 RAYS 



GAMMA X-RAYS- 

 RAYS 



400 m/i 



WAVELENGTHS IN MILLIMICRONS 



102 



j i_ 



ULTRA- 

 VIOLET 

 RAYS 



10 4 



1 L 



10 6 



_J L 



108 



I L 



ioio 



_J L 



10'2 10> 4 

 _i i i 



1016 

 _i 



INFRA- 

 RED 

 RAYS 



HERTZIAN 

 WAVES 



RADIO 

 WAVES 



LONG 



ELECTRICAL 



OSCILLATIONS 



VISIBLE SPECTRUM 



700 mp 



Figure 12-14. — Wavelengths and refraction. 



REFLECTION 



209.14 



INCIDENT LIGHT BATS 



REFLECTED HATS 



ABSORBED BATS 



TBANSMITTED RAYS 



209.15 

 Figure 12-15.— Light rays reflected, absorbed, 

 and transmitted. 



The term "reflected light" simply refers to 

 those light waves that are neither transmitted 

 nor absorbed, but are thrown back from the 

 surface of the medium they encounter. If a ray 

 of light is directed against a mirror, the light 

 ray that strikes the surface is called the 

 incident ray, and the one that bounces off is 

 the reflected ray. The imaginary line perpen- 

 dicular to the mirror at the point where the 

 ray strikes is the NORMAL. The angle between 

 the incident ray and the normal is the angle 

 of incidence. The angle between the reflected 

 ray and the normal is the angle of reflection. 

 These terms are illustrated in figure 12-16. 



If the surface of the medium contacted by 

 the incident light ray is smooth and polished, 

 such as a mirror, the reflected light will be 

 thrown back at the same angle to the surface 



281 



