The Law of Reflection

Light is known to behave in a very predictable manner. If a ray of light could be observed approaching and reflecting off of a flat mirror, then the behavior of the light as it reflects would follow a predictable law known as the law of reflection. The diagram below illustrates the law of reflection.

In the diagram, the ray of light approaching the mirror is known as the incident ray (labeled I in the diagram). The ray of light that leaves the mirror is known as the reflected ray (labeled R in the diagram). At the point of incidence where the ray strikes the mirror, a line can be drawn perpendicular to the surface of the mirror. This line is known as a normal line (labeled N in the diagram). The normal line divides the angle between the incident ray and the reflected ray into two e ual angles. The angle between the incident ray and the normal is known as the angle of incidence. The angle between the reflected ray and the normal is known as the angle of reflection. (These two angles are labeled with the !reek letter "theta" accompanied by a subscript# read as "theta$i" for angle of incidence and "theta$r" for angle of reflection.) The law of reflection states that when a ray of light reflects off a surface, the angle of incidence is e ual to the angle of reflection. To view an image of a pencil in a mirror, you must sight along a line at the image location. As you sight at the image, light travels to your eye along the path shown in the diagram below. The diagram shows that the light reflects off the mirror in such a manner that the angle of incidence is e ual to the angle of reflection.

If you were to sight along a line at a different location than the image location, it would be impossible for a ray of light to come from the ob%ect, reflect off the mirror according to the law of reflection, and subse uently travel to your eye. &nly when you sight at the image, does light from the ob%ect reflect off the mirror in accordance with the law of reflection and travel to your eye. This truth is depicted in the diagram below.

'or e(ample, in )iagram A above, the eye is sighting along a line at a position above the actual image location. 'or light from the ob%ect to reflect off the mirror and travel to the eye, the light would have to reflect in such a way that the angle of incidence is less than the angle of reflection. In )iagram * above, the eye is sighting along a line at a position below the actual image location. In this case, for light from the ob%ect to reflect off the mirror and travel to the eye, the light would have to reflect in such a way that the angle of incidence is more than the angle of reflection. +either of these cases would follow the law of reflection. In fact, in each case, the image is not seen when sighting along the indicated line of sight. It is because of the law of reflection that an eye must sight at the image location in order to see the image of an ob%ect in a mirror.

Examples 1. ,onsider the diagram at the right. -hich one of the angles (A, *, ,, or )) is the angle of incidence. -hich one of the angles is the angle of reflection.

Answer
Angle * is the angle of incidence (angle between the incident ray and the normal). Angle , is the angle of reflection (angle between the reflected ray and the normal).

2. A ray of light is incident towards a plane mirror at an angle of /0$degrees with the mirror surface. -hat will be the angle of reflection.

Answer
The angle of reflection is 10 degrees. (+ote that the angle of incidence is not /0 degrees# it is 10 degrees since the angle of incidence is measured between the incident ray and the normal.)

3. 2erhaps you have observed the image of the sun in the windows of distant buildings near the time that the sun is rising or setting. 3owever, the image of the sun is not seen in the windows of distant building during midday. 4se the diagram below to e(plain, drawing appropriate light rays on the diagram.

5.

Answer
A ray of light drawn from the sun6s position at 7 pm to the distant window reflects off the window and travel to the observer6s eye. &n the other hand, a ray of light drawn from the 5 pm sun position to the window will reflect and travel to the ground, never making it to the distant observer6s eye.

4. A ray of light is approaching a set of three mirrors as shown in the diagram. The light ray is approaching the first mirror at an angle of 89$degrees with the mirror surface. Trace the path of the light ray as it bounces off the mirror. ,ontinue tracing the ray until it finally e(its from the mirror system. 3ow many times will the ray reflect before it finally e(its.

Answer
The light reflects twice before it finally e(its the system. )raw a normal at the point of incidence to the first mirror# measure the angle of incidence (89 degrees)# then draw a reflected ray at 89 degrees from the normal. :epeat the process for the second mirror.

Experiment 1: Law of Reflection

normal

incident ray mirror

reflected ray

Procedure
5. 2ut a plane mirror on the full circle protractor pro%ector plane. The line at the right angles to the mirror is called the normal line. ;. )irect a ray of light at the plane mirror from different angles by using a ray bo(. This ray is called the incident ray. The angle between the normal line and the incident ray is called the angle of incidence i! ,an you see another ray coming out from the mirror. This is called reflected ray. The angle between the normal line and the reflected ray is called the angle of reflection (r)

"#$ER%A&I"N:
/. :ecord the values of angle of reflection in the following table. Angle of incidence i! 0 59 89 10 <0 Angle of reflection r! 0 59 89 10 <0

/.

'ind out the relationships between angle of incidence i and angle of reflection r?

GRAPH
Detailed RESULT From Experiment When light rays traveling are a medium reaches the boundary of other medium, they turn back to the first medium. This phenomenon of turning back of light into the same medium after striking the boundary of other medium is called Reflection of Light.

TYPES AND LAWS OF REFLECTION 1. The angle of incident is equal to the angle of reflection i.e.

<i = <r

2. The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal lie on the same plane. RE ULAR REFLECTION When a beam pass of parallel light rays is incident on a smooth and plane surface, the reflected rays ill also be parallel. This type of reflection is called Regular Reflection.

IRRE ULAR REFLECTION When a beam of parallel light rays is scattered in all directions. Therefore the parallel rays incident on the surface Reflection!. ill reflect in different directions. This type of reflection is called !"rregular or #iffuse