angle of incidence

American  

noun

1. Also called incidence.  Optics, Physics. the angle that a straight line, ray of light, etc., meeting a surface, makes with a normal to the surface at the point of meeting. aoi

2. (on an airplane) the angle, usually fixed, between a wing or tail root chord and the axis of the fuselage.

3. Chiefly British. angle of attack.

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angle of incidence British  

noun

1. the angle that a line or beam of radiation makes with the normal to the surface at the point of incidence

2. another name for angle of attack

3. Also called: rigging angle of incidence.  the angle between the chord line of an aircraft wing or tailplane and the aircraft's longitudinal axis

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angle of incidence Scientific  

1. The angle formed by a ray or wave, as of light or sound, striking a surface and a line perpendicular to the surface at the point of impact.

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Etymology

Origin of angle of incidence

First recorded in 1620–30

Example Sentences

The team devised a method to meticulously control the phase of the metalens, ensuring precise focusing of sound waves regardless of their angle of incidence.

From Science Daily • May 14, 2024

Through the use of metasurfaces, the team devised a system that controls light to convey only a specific phase of information at a given angle, resulting in diverse images based on the angle of incidence.

From Science Daily • Feb. 20, 2024

Shorter wavelengths/higher frequencies of light are scattered away, leaving only the longer wavelengths, colored red, able to penetrate through the length of the atmosphere at a low angle of incidence.

From Washington Post • May 11, 2022

This is true whenever the reflecting surfaces are perpendicular, and it is independent of the angle of incidence.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

But need the angle of reflection be equal to the angle of incidence in any universe?

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton