This lesson is on The Nature of Waves; Refraction and Internal Reflection, which is part of Unit 4 Area of Study 1 for VCE Physics.
What is reflection, refraction, diffraction and wave superposition?
Reflection is the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated, while refraction is the change in direction of a wave passing from one medium to another.
Diffraction is the bending of waves around obstacles and openings.
Wave superposition occurs when two or more waves are travelling through the same medium at the same time, the net displacement at any point in time, is simply the sum of the individual wave displacements.
The following two videos cover the wide range of wave behaviour, including reflection, refraction, diffraction and wave superposition.
Part 1: Wave behaviour
Part 2: Further wave behaviour
Refraction and Snell’s law
Total Internal Reflection of Light and Critical Angle of Refraction Physics
This video discusses the total internal reflection of light and how to calculate the critical angle of refraction.
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