1. What is the Angle of Incidence?

The angle of incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the normal (perpendicular line) to the surface at the point of incidence. It's a fundamental concept in optics that describes how light bends when passing between different media.

2. How Does the Calculator Work?

The calculator uses Snell's Law formula:

Where:

• \( i \) — Angle of incidence (degrees)
• \( n_1 \) — Refractive index of first medium
• \( n_2 \) — Refractive index of second medium
• \( r \) — Angle of refraction (degrees)

Explanation: The equation calculates how much light bends when passing between two media with different refractive indices.

3. Importance of Angle of Incidence

Details: Understanding angle of incidence is crucial for designing optical systems, lenses, and understanding phenomena like total internal reflection and critical angle.

4. Using the Calculator

Tips: Enter refractive indices (must be positive numbers) and angle of refraction (between 0-90 degrees). The calculator will compute the corresponding angle of incidence.

5. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: What is the range of valid angles?
A: The angle of refraction must be between 0-90 degrees. The calculated angle of incidence may exceed 90° in some cases (total internal reflection).

Q2: What are typical refractive index values?
A: Air ≈1.0, Water ≈1.33, Glass ≈1.5-1.9, Diamond ≈2.42.

Q3: What happens when n1 < n2?
A: When light passes to a denser medium (higher refractive index), the angle of incidence will be greater than the angle of refraction.

Q4: What is total internal reflection?
A: When light passes from a denser to rarer medium beyond the critical angle, all light is reflected back.

Q5: How does wavelength affect this calculation?
A: Refractive indices vary slightly with wavelength (dispersion), but this calculator uses single values for simplicity.