Wave reflected from parabola
- Author:
- Ray Tuck
- Topic:
- Parabola
- The simulation represents a single wavefront being reflected from a convex parabolic barrier. The incident plane wavefront is blue and the reflected wavefront is green.
- Tick show rays to show the direction of travel of a portion of the wave front. Note that the incident ray is perpendicular to the incident wave front and the reflected ray is perpendicular to the incident reflected wavefront. Use the slider to change the position of the incident ray.
- Click show angles to show the angles of incidence and reflection for the ray shown. The solid red line is the tangent to the parabola where the ray strikes the parabola. The dotted red normal is perpendicular to the tangent. The angles of reflection and refraction are between the appropriate ray and the normal.