refraction. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002

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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. 2002.

refraction


A change of direction that light undergoes when it enters a medium with a different density from the one through which it has been traveling—for example, when, after moving through air, it passes through a prism. (Compare reflection.)	1
‡ Lenses and other optical instruments work through refraction of light.	2

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition. Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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