2007-02-10 06:42:15 · 3 answers · asked by hannah 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Earth Sciences & Geology
Diffraction: When you drop a rock into the water, the waves go out in all directions. Also, when you talk, the sound waves don't just go straight forward, they radiate outwards.
Refraction: When you shine a light into a prism (on an angle), it bends.
2007-02-10 07:16:54 · answer #1 · answered by steve 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Diffraction: if you hold an umbrella in the usual way at night, and look through it at a street lamp quite far away, the light apears like a grid of spots, maybe 4 x 4 or 5 x 5. This is due to diffraction in the tiny interstices of the fabric.
Refraction: the rainbow is caused by the refraction of sunlight in water droplets.
2007-02-10 15:17:53 · answer #2 · answered by bh8153 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the atmosphere a corona round the Sun or the Moon in altocumulus cloud is caused by diffraction of light by the water droplets in the cloud. Other examples of atmospheric diffraction are irisation and the glory.
Haloes - rings round the Sun or Moon, sundogs etc - are caused by refraction through ice crystals in cirrostratus cloud.
2007-02-10 16:03:41 · answer #3 · answered by tentofield 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋