Reflection of Light

Light reflection occurs when the waves strike a surface or other boundary that does not absorb the radiant energy and reflects the waves away from the surface. The incident light wave is called the incident wave and the wave bouncing back from the surface is called the reflected wave. Visible white light directed at a mirror surface at one (incident) angle is reflected back into space by the mirror surface at another (reflected) angle is equal to the angle of incidence. Therefore, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection for visible light as well as for all other wavelengths of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum. This concept is often referred to as the law of reflection.

Reflection of Light: Definition

Reflection of light occurs whenever a beam of light falls on a smooth surface (that is polished) and bounces back off it. Or we can say that the ray of light approaching any surface causes the reflection of light. Further, the light ray that falls on the surface is called an incident ray while the light rays that get reflected are called reflected rays. Moreover, if a perpendicular is drawn between the two rays on the reflecting surface is said to be normal.

Example

The simplest example of the reflection of light is the surface of a smooth pool of water, where incident light is reflected in order to create a clear image of the landscape around the pool.

Law of Reflection of Light 

A smooth surface is used to verify the law of reflection, which states that the angle formed by a reflected ray is equal to the angle formed by an incident ray when both are measured with respect to the surface’s normal line, which is a line perpendicular to the surface at the point of contact. It is always the case that the reflected ray is in the plane defined by both the incident ray and a normal to surface at the point of contact between the incident ray and a surface. The law of reflection can be used to explain the images produced by plane mirrors and curved mirrors, respectively.

Therefore the following is the definition of the law of reflection: When light rays strike a smooth surface, the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence, and the incident ray, the reflected ray, and the normal to the surface are all in the same plane, according to the principle.

Reflection of Light: Types

There are mainly two types of reflection

Regular Reflection

It is produced by plane mirrors with a smooth surface. In this instance, the image is clear and easily discernible from a distance. The images produced by plane mirrors are always virtual, meaning that they cannot be captured on a computer screen or printed out. Curved mirrors with a smooth surface allow us to see the images of reflection either virtually or physically in both virtual and real-time. In other words, the images produced by curved mirrors can be either real (collected on a screen and seen) or virtual (cannot be collected on a screen, but only seen).

Irregular Reflection

Unlike mirrors, most natural surfaces are rough on the scale of the wavelength of light, which results in parallel incident light rays being reflected in many different directions irregularly or getting diffused as a result of the roughness of the surface. As a result, decreased reflection aids in the perception of objects and is responsible for the ability to see the majority of illuminated surfaces from any position.

Scattering of Light

Some light is scattered in all directions when it encounters very small particles, such as gas molecules, or much larger particles, such as dust or water droplets. The amount of scattering depends on the size of the particle compared to the wavelength of the incident light. Smaller wavelengths scatter more. Why is the sky blue? It’s a frequently asked question. Light comes from the sun and is made up of all the colours of the rainbow. Since the light encounters the nitrogen and oxygen particles that are present in our atmosphere in all directions. Blue light has a shorter wavelength than red light, so it scatters much more than red light. If we look up at the sky, we can see all the places where the blue light has scattered. This is similar to asking, “Why are sunsets red? When the sun appears to lower in the sky, the light that reaches us has already travelled a larger part of the atmosphere. That means a lot of blue light has been scattered before it reaches us, making the sky appear red. Clouds appear white because the water droplets are much larger than the wavelengths of light. In this situation, all wavelengths of light are scattered equally in all directions.

Conclusion

This article is very useful for the one who is searching for a detailed guide about the reflection of the light. Moreover, this article also includes the type of reflection of light and what are the two most important laws of the reflection of light. How does the reflection occur? If you don’t know, this article will help you in understanding such things about light reflection. Hope this  article will help you with the topic Reflection of light.