What is a mirage quizlet?

Mirage. Distorted image; caused by the refraction of light in Earth’s atmosphere. Dispersion. The separation of light into colors arranged according to their frequency.

Which of these is the cause of a mirage in the desert?

Mirages are most common in deserts. They happen when light passes through two layers of air with different temperatures. The desert sun heats the sand, which in turn heats the air just above it. The hot air bends light rays and reflects the sky.

Which of the following is a type of mirage or an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions?

A Fata Morgana is an optical illusion, usually seen while sailing on a large body of water. Light and atmospheric conditions can bend light so that objects on the horizon appear to be up in the air, or much larger than they are. Sailors have been baffled by this phenomenon for millennia.

What are mirages and shimmering caused by?

On a warm summer’s day, light starts playing tricks, giving rise to shimmering heat haze and mirages. Light goes faster through thinner warm air than denser cold air. When it goes from warm to cool air, light is refracted as though through a prism.

Which of these is the cause of a mirage in the desert quizlet?

Mirages occur because light travels faster in hot air than in cooler, denser air. On a sunny day, air tends to be hotter just above the surface of a road than higher up. Normally, light travels from the sun all the way to the ground before being reflected.

What causes a mirage quizlet?

An image of a distant object caused by refraction of light as it travels through air of varying temp.

What are the two types of mirages?

Mirages are created when light passes through air of different temperatures. Two types of mirages are inferior and superior.

Why do mirages disappear as you get closer?

And the closer you get to that water, the more the mirage disappears. This is because an optical illusion is occurring. The mirage that we see during this time is light reflecting and refracting off the hot air that is bouncing, rising and moving around, which is why it appears to look like liquid.

What happens when light is scattered quizlet?

Light scattering is when molecules absorb and reemit light in all directions. Large particles scatter low frequencies.

Is light refracted when it changes direction and speed?

Refraction is an effect that occurs when a light wave, incident at an angle away from the normal, passes a boundary from one medium into another in which there is a change in velocity of the light. Light is refracted when it crosses the interface from air into glass in which it moves more slowly.

What is a mirage quizlet? Mirage. Distorted image; caused by the refraction of light in Earth’s atmosphere. Dispersion. The separation of light into colors arranged according to their frequency. Which of these is the cause of a mirage in the desert? Mirages are most common in deserts. They happen when light passes through two layers…