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Word: refract (lookup in dictionary) (lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
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Usage:

Some optical ghosts are common: the ordinary mirages which nearly everyone has seen. Commonest of all is "water-in-the-road," which is caused by a thin layer of warm air above sun-heated pavement. The two layers (cold and dense above, hot and less dense below) "refract"* upward the light that reaches them from the distant sky. A motorist sees shining water (really sky) lying in the road. In hot deserts this sort of mirage is extremely deceptive...

Author: /time Magazine | Title: An Astronomer's Explanation: THOSE FLYING SAUCERS | 6/9/1952 | See Source »

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