Examples in Everyday Life
Total internal reflection can be observed while swimming, when one opens one's eyes just under the water's surface. If the water is calm, its surface appears mirror-like.
One can demonstrate total internal reflection by filling a sink or bath with water, taking a glass tumbler, and placing it upside-down over the plug hole (with the tumbler completely filled with water). While water remains both in the upturned tumbler and in the sink surrounding it, the plug hole and plug are visible since the angle of refraction between glass and water is not greater than the critical angle. If the drain is opened and the tumbler is kept in position over the hole, the water in the tumbler drains out leaving the glass filled with air, and this then acts as the plug. Viewing this from above, the tumbler now appears mirrored because light reflects off the air/glass interface.
Another common example of total internal reflection is a critically cut diamond. This is what gives it maximum sparkle.
Read more about this topic: Total Internal Reflection
Famous quotes containing the words examples, everyday and/or life:
“No rules exist, and examples are simply life-savers answering the appeals of rules making vain attempts to exist.”
—André Breton (1896–1966)
“I think of discipline as the continual everyday process of helping a child learn self-discipline.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)
“With liberty and pleasant weather, the simplest occupation, any unquestioned country mode of life which detains us in the open air, is alluring. The man who picks peas steadily for a living is more than respectable, he is even envied by his shop-worn neighbors. We are as happy as the birds when our Good Genius permits us to pursue any outdoor work, without a sense of dissipation.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)