Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

critical angle

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.25 in modern English

Syllables
crit-i-cal an-gle
IPA
18
Scrabble Score
13
Letters
4
Syllables
9
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The angle of incidence beyond which light traveling through a medium experiences total internal reflection upon encountering a boundary with a less refractive medium.

noun

The angle of attack beyond which an airfoil stalls, experiencing a decrease in lift and increase in drag due to separation of airflow from the upper surface of the airfoil.

noun

The angle beyond which a ramp or a set of stairs is considered uncomfortable or unsafe.

Inflected Forms

critical angles (plural)

Phrases

Snell's law total internal reflection

Frequently Paired Words

Snell's law total internal reflection

Synonyms

alpha max stall angle

Questions

What does critical angle mean?
The angle of incidence beyond which light traveling through a medium experiences total internal reflection upon encountering a boundary with a less refractive medium.

How to pronounce critical angle

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “critical angle”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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