- The Fresnel Effect
- The Fresnel effect is named for the nineteenth-century French physicist Jean Augustin Fresnel (pronounced with a silent s). This effect describes the amount of reflection and refraction that occurs on a surface as the viewing angle changes.
- The glancing angle is the angle at which you view a surface.
- If you are standing in front of a wall, the wall is perpendicular, and thus the glancing angle is 0.
- If you are looking across the ocean, the glancing angle of the surface of the water is very high. The Fresnel effect states that as the glancing angle increases, the surface becomes more reflective than refractive. It’s easy to see objects in water as you stare straight down into water (low glancing angle); however, as you stare across the surface of water, the reflectivity increases, and the reflection of the sky and the environment makes it increasingly difficult to see objects in the water.
- Opaque, reflective objects also demonstrate this effect. As you look at a billiard ball, the environment is more easily seen reflected on the edges of the ball as they turn away from you than on the parts of the ball that are perpendicular to your view.
apr 26 2012 ∞
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apr 26 2012 +