Askiitians Tutor Team
Last Activity: 5 Months ago
Reflected rays refer to the rays of light that bounce off a surface after striking it. When light encounters a boundary between two different transparent media with varying optical properties, such as air and glass or air and water, some of the light energy is reflected back into the original medium, while the rest continues to propagate through the second medium, leading to refraction.
The angle at which the light ray strikes the surface is known as the "angle of incidence," and the angle between the reflected ray and the surface normal (a line perpendicular to the surface) is called the "angle of reflection." According to the law of reflection, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection:
Angle of Incidence = Angle of Reflection
This principle applies to both specular reflection (smooth and regular reflection, like a mirror) and diffuse reflection (scattered reflection from rough surfaces).
Understanding how light reflects and refracts is crucial in various fields, including optics, physics, and engineering, as it plays a fundamental role in the behavior of light when interacting with different materials and surfaces.