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geometrical optics
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model of optics describing light as geometric rays
In the Vinony graph
Within Vinony's link graph, geometrical optics is referenced by 300 other articles, and connects out to lens, optics and Snell's law.
It sits within the topics Geometrical optics and Optics.
Its subject is documented across 49 Wikipedia language editions.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- branch of physics
- Part of
- optics
- Image
- Lens3b.svg
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Geometric optics
- topic's main category
- Category:Geometrical optics
- Stack Exchange tag
- physics.stackexchange.com/tags/geometric-optics
via Wikidata · CC0
~28 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Geometrical optics, or ray optics, is a model of optics that describes light propagation in terms of rays. The ray in geometrical optics is an abstraction useful for approximating the paths along which light propagates under certain circumstances.
The simplifying assumptions of geometrical optics include that light rays:
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “geometrical optics” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.