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Light - Total Internal Reflection (continued).
When a light
ray tries to move from glass to
air
at an angle greater than the
critical angle (see previous page)
the refracted ray cannot escape
from the glass.
Refraction cannot happen and
all of the light is reflected
at the glass / air boundary, as if it had hit a mirror, i = r.
It is called internal reflection because it occurs inside the glass,
and total because all the light must be
reflected.
Total Internal Reflection (TIR) can occur in prisms and optical fibres.
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