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critical angle
[ krit-i-kuhl ang-guhl ]
noun
- Optics. the minimum angle of incidence beyond which total internal reflection occurs for light traveling from a medium of higher to one of lower index of refraction; the angle of incidence for which refracted rays emerge tangent to the surface separating two media, the light traveling from the medium of higher to the medium of lower index of refraction.
- Also called angle of stall,. Aeronautics. the angle of attack, greater than or equal to the angle of attack for maximum lift, at which there is a sudden change in the airflow around an airfoil with a subsequent decrease in lift and increase in drag.
critical angle
noun
- the smallest possible angle of incidence for which light rays are totally reflected at an interface between substances of different refractive index
- another name for stalling angle
critical angle
/ °ì°ùijÙ′Ä-°ìÉ™±ô /
- The smallest angle of incidence at which radiation, such as light, is completely reflected from the boundary between two media. At angles smaller than the critical angle, some of the radiation enters the second material and is refracted.
˜yÐÄvlog History and Origins
Origin of critical angle1
Example Sentences
However, at a critical angle, the forces keeping the sandpile together yield to gravity: the pile breaks down and starts flowing, acting like a liquid.
Subjects were instructed to tilt the tube towards Kevin’s image using specific keys on a keyboard until they felt the tube had reached the critical angle at which it would tip over.
As the airplane approaches that critical angle, the first event is a stall warning in the cockpit.
Officials also said Wassef contributed to the crash by allowing the plane to exceed the “critical angle of attack†during an emergency return to the airport.
Lien, the first set designer ever to be named a MacArthur “genius†fellow, ingeniously arranges her scenic design at a critical angle.
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