Reflection and Refraction
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Fi Reflection and A thi Refraction wa en at th los Th hen you shine a beam of light on a mir- ref rot the light doesn't travel through the dii Wmurmur. but a returned by the mirror's mutate bact into the ad Aben sound aases strike a canyon wall. they return to you as an echo. When a transverse wave transmitted along Changes tn lasaht speed produce a spring reaches a wall. it rrverNes direction In all these situations. refraction. waves remain in one medium rather than enter a new medium. These waves are reflected. In other situations, as when light passes from air into water, waves travel from one medium into another. When waves strike the surface of a medium at an angle, their direction changes as they enter the second medium. These waves are refracted. This is evident when a pencil in a glass of water appears to be bent. Usually waves are partly reflected and partly refracted when they wa fall on a transparent medium. When light shines on water, for exam- refl ple, some of the light is reflected and some is refracted. To under- pet stand this, let's see how reflection occurs. refl dic the 29.1 Reflection When a wave reaches a boundary between two media, some or all of the wave bounces back into the first medium. This is reflection. 21 For example, suppose you fasten a spring to a wall and send a pulse along the spring's length (Figure 29.1). The wall is a very rigid In medium compared with the spring. As a result, all the wave energy fro] is reflected back along the spring rather than being transmitted into stn the wall. Waves that travel along the spring are almost totally a ii reflected at the wall. bot If the wall is replaced with a less rigid medium, such as the heavy spring shown in Figure 29.2, some energy is transmitted into by: 442 Chapter 29 Reflection and Refraction 11110MOMMOZM daaa fieROMMUNNeaDDRadd014),, 4-403% -eardavabi swans Figure 29.1 A A wave is totally reflected when it reaches a completely rigid boundary. the new medium. Some of the wave energy is still reflected. These • •T‘ Ts aro A metal surface is rigid to light waves that shine upon it. Light energy does not propagate into the metal, but instead is returned in a reflected wave. The wave reflected from a metal surface has almost the full intensity of the incoming wave, apart from small energy losses due to the friction of the vibrating electrons in the surface. This is why metals such as silver and aluminum are so shiny. They Lir- reflect almost all the frequencies of visible light. Smooth surfaces of he these metals are therefore used as mirrors. 'S 41 Figure 29.2 When the wave reaches the =BMW heavy spring, it is partially MS, reflected. Part of the wave etiergy bounces back along the 17 111 ea0MOINDRIE 73-aaawDm 7, • fest spnrig, while the other part I.- ewes ihrij the heavy scerng he imaColawmalwODONDN 450 Other materials such as glass and water are not as rigid m wares. Like the different springs of Figure 29.2, wave energy rs both reflected and transmitted at the boundary. When light shines per- pendicularly on the surface of still water, about 2% of its energy is reflected and the rest is transmitted. When light strikes glass perpen- dicularly, about 4% of its energy is reflected. Except for slight losses, INN the rest is transmitted. 11 n. 29.2 The Law of Reflection Ilse In one dimension, reflected waves simply travel back in the direction rgy from which they came. Let a ball drop to the floor, and it bounces into straight up along its initial path. In two dimensions, the situation is a little different. Toss a ball at an angle to the floor, and it normally bounces at the same angle in a new direction. Likewise with light. The direction of incident and reflected waves is best described Lto by straight-line rays. Incident rays and reflected rays make equal angles with a line perpendicular to the surface, called the normal, as shown in Figure 29.3. The angle made by the incident ray and the normal, called the angle of incidence, is equal to the angle made by the reflected ray and the normal, called the angle of reflection. That is angle of incidence = angle of reflection Figure 29.3 It. ANGLE OF zcj I ANGLE OF In reflection, the angle between INCIDENCE ph REFLECTION the incident ray and the normal \ z ) is equal to the angle between e,(4 y, the reflected ray and the normal. MIRROR This relationship is called the law of reflection. The incident ray, the normal, and the reflected ray all lie in the same plane. The law of reflec- tion applies to both partially reflected and totally reflected waves. 29.3 Mirrors Consider a candle flame placed in front of a plane (flat) mirror. Rays of light are reflected from the nurror surface in all directions. The number of rays is infinite, and net one obeys the last at reflection. rra:mirror. Thetig%;at,s0MS4nss *oto 4 .411-fke Atts,specNNfloticelhairokliaVeladjujte orle1t4t4 Tai* *01: pareii-;tlibit-g*age is farthek awe Vagru aeifceu seClietriceS1.:,Td`d6Chitfetit- kiti , spec on the-nartb =surface rld then read the distanekeff the scale orilhecaCril'pg era's4lensit,p,,zat this process using your image in the mirror.- , When the mirror is curved, the sizes and distances of object and Figure 29.4 A image are no longer equal. The law of reflection also holds for curved A virtual image is formed behind the plane mirror and is located at mirrors.,.%every part of the surface, the angle of incidence is equal to the position where the extended the angle of reflection, as shown in Figure 29.6. Note that for a curved reflected rays (broken lines) - normals (shown as dashed black converge. mirror, unlike a plane mirror, the lines) at different points on the surface are not parallel to each other. 444 Chapter 29 Reflection and Refraction Figure 29.4 shows only two rays that originate at the tip of the candle YOU YOUR TWIN? flame and reflect from the mirror to your eye. Note that the rays Ar \iv diverge (spread apart) from the tip of the flame, and continue diverging from the mirror upon reflection. These divergent rays appear to originate from a point located behind the mirror. So You see an image of the candle in the mirror (actually behind the mir- ror). The image is called a virtual image, because light does not actually start there. Figure 29.5 A Your eye cannot ordinarily tell the difference between an object For reflection in a plane mirror, and its virtual image. This is because the light that enters your eye is object size equals image size and entering in exactly the same manner, physically, as it would without object distance equals image the mirror if there really were an object there. Notice that the image distance. is as far behind the mirror as the object is in front of the mirror. Notice also that the image and object are the same size. When you view yourself in a mirror, your image is the same size your identical twin would appear if located as far behind the minor as you are in front—as long as the minor is flat. Figure 29.6 (a) The virtual image formed by a Convex mirror la mwror that curves outward) is &nether and closer to the mirror than the object is. (b) When the object is close to a concave mirror (a mir- ror that curves inward like a "cave"), the virtual image is larger and farther away than the object is. In any case, the law of a. reflection holds for each ray. • Ouestions 1. If you look at your blue shirt in a mirror, what is the color of its image? What does this tell you about the frequency of light inci- dent upon a mirror compared with the frequency of the light after it is reflected? 2. If you wish to take a picture of your image while standing 2 m in front of a plane mirror, for what distance should you set your c, -ncra to provide sharpest focus? 11 Explore 2Develop 3 Apply • Answers 1 Laboratory Manual 75 2 Concept Development 1. The color of the image will be the same as the color of the object. This is evidence that Practice Book 29-1, 29-2 the frequency of light is not changed by reflection. 2 Laboratory Manual 76, 78 2. You should set your camera for a distance of 4 m. The situation is equivalent to your • standing 2 m in front of an open window and viewing your twin standing 2 m in back 3 Laboratory Manual 74, 77 of the window. 445 j, rj 21. , stt fl hg an Pa so to o he inittora'a, et--; th: F centimeters,sPart: twe- ein 'Etow:manytniages aret there.7 Lots! How)--itith1::;c°j11 much.nloney,.!.. , ilft` there? Unfortunatelyt' there' is still only one coin. s 29.4 Diffuse Reflection When light is incident on a rough surface. it is reflected icmain directions This is arse reflection (Figure 29.7;. bilthough the reflection of each single ray obeys the law of reflection, the many different angles that incident light rays encounter cause reflection in many directions. What constitutes a rough surface for some rays may be a pol- ished surface for others.