Critical Angle

Critical angle can refer to:

  • Critical angle (optics) the angle of incidence above which total internal reflection occurs
  • Critical angle of attack, in aerodynamics; the angle of attack which produces the maximum lift coefficient
  • Critical angle of repose, in engineering; the steepest angle of descent of a slope when the material is on the verge of sliding

Famous quotes containing the words critical and/or angle:

    An audience is never wrong. An individual member of it may be an imbecile, but a thousand imbeciles together in the dark—that is critical genius.
    Billy Wilder (b. 1906)

    So much symmetry!
    Like the pale angle of time
    And eternity.
    The great shape labored and fell.
    N. Scott Momaday (b. 1934)