Physics > Reflection of Light > 2.0 Reflection of light
Reflection of Light
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Reflection of light
3.0 Basic terminologies of spherical mirrors
3.1 Paraxial approximation
3.2 Spherical mirrors
3.3 Sign convention
3.4 Ray tracing
3.5 Image formation by concave mirror
3.6 Image formation by convex mirror
4.0 Spherical mirror formulae
5.0 Magnification
6.0 Motion of object and image
2.1 Laws of reflection of light
3.2 Spherical mirrors
3.3 Sign convention
3.4 Ray tracing
3.5 Image formation by concave mirror
3.6 Image formation by convex mirror
The two laws of reflection of light are as follows.
1. The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal to the surface all lie in the same plane.
2. The angle of incidence $(i)$ is equal to the angle of reflection $(r)$.
$$\angle i = \angle r$$
Note:
- When light is reflected from a denser medium surface , there is a phase change of $\pi $ but no phase change occurs if it is reflected from a rarer medium surface.
- On reflection, the velocity, wavelength and frequency of light do not change. However amplitude and intensity of the reflected ray is less than that of incident ray.
- The laws of reflection can be applied to the reflecting surfaces which are not even horizontal.
