Law of Reflection

Physics 10
Reflection and Refraction
Slide 25
Slide 1 Slide 7 Slide 13 Slide 19 Slide 26
Slide 2 Slide 8 Slide 14 Slide 20 Slide 27
Slide 3 Slide 9 Slide 15 Slide 21 Slide 28
Slide 4 Slide 10 Slide 16 Slide 22 Slide 29 Law of Reflection ⇒ The angle of reflection
Slide 5 Slide 11 Slide 17 Slide 23 Slide 30 equals the angle of incidence.
Slide 6 Slide 12 Slide 18 Slide 24 Slide 31

Plane Mirrors Plane Mirrors

⇒ The reflected light from an object looks as ⇒ The image appears to be as far behind a
through it came from a point behind the mirror. This plane mirror as the object is in front of the
is where the image is located. mirror.

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 Plane Mirrors
⇒ The image from a plane mirror is upright, the
same size as the object, and as far behind the mirror
as the object is in front of it.
Plane Mirrors
⇒ To view one’s full
length in a mirror, only a
half-length mirror is
needed.
Exercise 14
Hold a pocket mirror at almost arm’s length from
your face and note the amount of your face you
can see. To see more of your face, should you
hold the mirror closer or farther, or would you
have to have a larger mirror? (Try it and see!)
⇒ Note that in your (flat) pocket mirror that
the amount of your face you can see is twice
the size of the mirror – whether you hold it
close or at arm’s length!
Specular Reflection
⇒ Reflection from a smooth surface is called
specular reflection.
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 Diffuse Reflection Refraction of Light

⇒ Reflection from a rough surface is called Refraction: The bending of light when it passes
diffuse reflection. from one transparent material to another.

Refraction of Light Refraction of Light

⇒ To understand why light ⇒ Similarly, when light hits

bends when passing from a transparent material like
one transparent material to water where the speed of
another, imagine a cartwheel light is slower, one side of
rolling from a sidewalk onto the wavefront slows down
grass. before the other side.

⇒ Because the wheels roll slower in the grass, ⇒ Because light travels slower in the water, the
the left wheel will slow down first causing the left side of the wavefront will slow down first,
cartwheel to change directions. causing the light to bend.

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 Exercise 20 Apparent Depth
A pair of toy cartwheels are rolled obliquely from a
smooth surface onto two plots of grass, a rectangular plot
and a triangular plot as shown. The ground is on a slight
incline so that after slowing down in the grass, the wheels
will speed up again when emerging on the smooth surface.
Finish each sketch by showing the path of the cartwheels
inside the grass and on the other sides.

⇒ Because of refraction, the apparent depth of

objects in water is less than their actual depth.
(Objects are deeper than they appear.)

Apparent Depth Exercise 23

Place a glass test tube in water and you
can see the tube. Place it in clear soybean
oil, and you may not be able to see it.
What does this tell you about the speed of
light in the oil and in the glass?

⇒ Because of refraction, the apparent depth of ⇒ The speeds in both glass and soybean
the end of the ruler inside the water is less than oil are the same, so there is no reflection
the actual depth. This is why an object in water or refraction between the glass and oil.
appears to bend.

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 Dispersion Dispersion
⇒ The speed of light in a transparent material depends
upon the frequency of the light (and the type of material).

⇒ Because different frequencies of light travel at

different speeds in a transparent material, the frequencies
are bent (refracted) by different amounts.

Dispersion: The separation of light into

different colors arranged according to their
frequency.

Rainbows Rainbows

⇒ Dispersion occurs
when sunlight hits a
water droplet. This is
what causes rainbows.
⇒ The incoming sunlight enters the water droplet and different
frequencies are bent (refracted) by different amounts.

⇒ When this refracted light hits the back of the water droplet,
some of it is transmitted back into the air (not shown) and some of ⇒ The different colors of a rainbow are the result of the
it is reflected back into the water droplet.
dispersion of sunlight by millions of water droplets that
⇒ The light reflected from the back of the water droplet then gets act like tiny prisms.
bent again (refracted) as it leaves the water droplet.

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 Rainbows Rainbows

⇒ Although each water drop disperses a full spectrum of

colors, a person can only see one color of light from each
drop.
⇒ Because of this, two people in different positions do
not see the “same” rainbow.

Rainbows Rainbows

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 Rainbows Rainbows

⇒ Sunlight can sometimes be

reflected twice within a single
water droplet.

Single reflection – Double reflection –

single rainbow. double rainbow.

Green Flash Green Flash

⇒ A simplified explanation of green
flashes is that our atmosphere acts like
an upside down prism. White light is
dispersed with blue on top, green near
the top, and red on the bottom.

⇒ Sometimes a momentary flash (lasting 1

or 2 seconds) of green light can be seen
when the sun sets.

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 Green Flash Blue Flash

⇒ At the moment of setting, the red is cut off by the

Earth, the blue is removed because of scattering, and the
green survives to give the green flash.

⇒ Under ideal atmospheric conditions, it is possible to

see a blue flash.

Total Internal Reflection Total Internal Reflection

⇒ When light tries to go from one transparent material into

another transparent material where the speed of light is
greater, the light will get totally internally reflected (no
light gets refracted out) if the angle the light hits at is greater
than a certain angle called the critical angle.

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Total Internal Reflection