Mirage
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A mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French mirer,
An inferior mirage seen in the Mojave Desert in a Nevada spring
A hot-road mirage, in which "fake water" appears on the road, is the most commonly observed instance of an inferior mirage.
Heat haze seen through exhaust gas from a jet engine
Above: A superior mirage of a plane on ice, McMurdo Station Right: An artificial mirage, using sugar solutions to simulate the inversion layers.
Refraction
Videos
In physics, refraction is the redirection of a wave as it passes from one medium to another. The redirection can be caused by the wave's change in speed or by a change in the medium. Refraction of lig
A pen partially submerged in a bowl of water appears bent due to refraction at the water surface.
Rainbows are formed by dispersion of light, in which the refraction angle depends on the light's frequency.
An image of the Golden Gate Bridge is refracted and bent by many differing three-dimensional drops of water.
The sun appears slightly flattened when close to the horizon due to refraction in the atmosphere.