Irradiation grazing angle of a disk

ID: irradiation-grazing-angle-of-a-disk

For a thin illuminated surface and a central point source, the radial light ray has slope whereas the surface tangent has slope . Their angle difference is the grazing angle. The incident flux is to leading order. This requires a positive grazing angle and an unobstructed ray; a negative formal flux instead signals failure of direct illumination, not negative heating.

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