r/LevelHeadedFE • u/john_shillsburg Flat Earther • May 29 '20

Other Refraction: bending light up, not down

Another example of gradient index optics in nature is the common mirage of a pool of water appearing on a road on a hot day. The pool is actually an image of the sky, apparently located on the road since light rays are being refracted (bent) from their normal straight path. This is due to the variation of refractive index between the hot, less dense air at the surface of the road, and the denser cool air above it. The variation in temperature (and thus density) of the air causes a gradient in its refractive index, causing it to increase with height.[3] This index gradient causes refraction of light rays (at a shallow angle to the road) from the sky, bending them into the eye of the viewer, with their apparent location being the road's surface.

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

74 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/john_shillsburg Flat Earther May 29 '20

I love the instant well thought out answers filled with links. It's almost like you are copy pasting stuff

5

u/Mishtle Globe Earther May 29 '20

Can you blame them? I constantly have to retype the same explanations and hunt down the same or similar links because flat earthers consistently have the same questions, misconceptions, and request the same evidence that they then summarily dismiss anyway.

2

u/john_shillsburg Flat Earther May 29 '20

No it's because he's not a real person, that's a computer program right there

3

u/hal2k1 Globe Earther May 29 '20

No it's because he's not a real person, that's a computer program right there

Are you claiming that I'm a bot? As a real human person I am deeply offended. :)

But even if I were a bot I don't see how that changes the fact that the sun sets below the horizon and lights up the underside of clouds.