Re: REFRACTION - REFLECTION

[rueckner@fas.harvard.edu (Wolfgang Rueckner)]

> We discussed total internal reflection in my high school class this week
> and one student had a question I was not sure about answering. He asked:
>
> It is relatively easy to understand the macroscopic interaction light
> has as it passes from water to air and bends as it does so due to a
> change in the velocity of the light. But, what is the interaction that
> occurs if the light reaches the surface with an angle of incidence
> greater than the critical angle? What is really happening in this
> situation and how is it different from the situation when the angle is
> less than the critical angle?
>
> I was not sure how to answer, can anyone help?  Thanks.


I would recommend looking at Victor Weisskopf's Scientific American article
"How Light Interacts with Matter" (Sept 1968, pp 60-71).  He explains this
(and many other phenomena) in terms of Huygens wavelets from atomic
oscillators.  In fact, the entire issue is devoted to light and is a real
gem.  Wolfgang Rueckner