Friday, June 20, 2008

Reflection of Light by 2E4 Ding Ruxin

1.Reflection of light is very predictable. The Law of Reflection describes it simply as "The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection."

2.Law of reflection: ' = where is the angle of incidence and ' is the reflected angle from the normal.

Yeah, that is great for flat surfaces but what about curved surfaces? It works the same way. Simply draw the tangent line to the point of the curve and reflect the light according to the tangent line.
There are actually two types of reflections: specular and diffused.
Specular reflection is reflection from a smooth surface. When light strikes this smooth surface, all the reflected rays are in line with each other.

Diffused reflection is reflection from a rough surface. The small bumps and irregularities on a rough surface will cause each of the light rays to reflect in different directions, all following the law of reflection of course.


Any incident ray traveling parallel to the principal axis on the way to a concave mirror will pass through the focal point upon reflection.
Any incident ray passing through the focal point on the way to a concave mirror will travel parallel to the principal axis upon reflection.

3 .Materials that reflect neutrons, for example beryllium, are used in nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. In the physical and biological sciences, the reflection of neutrons off atoms within a material is commonly used to determine its internal structures.

4. http://library.thinkquest.org/27356/p_reflection.htm

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