Lesson 1

Reflection of Light
 Focus Question

Why does light reflected from a mirror

make an image while light reflected from
a piece of paper does not?
 New Vocabulary

specular reflection
diffuse reflection
plane mirror
object
image
virtual image
 Review Vocabulary

normal: the line in a ray diagram that shows the

orientation of the barrier or mirror and is drawn
at a right angle, or perpendicular, to the barrier
or mirror

ray: a line drawn at a right angle to a wavefront;

represents the direction of wave travel
 The Law of Reflection

• The law of reflection

states the angle of
incidence is equal to the
angle of reflection. This
applies to both smooth
and rough surfaces.

Law of Reflection θi  θr
 The Law of Reflection

• Specular reflection is caused by a smooth surface, in

which parallel light rays are reflected in parallel.
• Diffuse reflection is caused by the scattering of light
off a rough surface.
 Initial Final

Use with Example Problem 1.

Problem
A light ray strikes a plane mirror at an angle of 15°
to the normal. The mirror then rotates 20° around
the point where the beam strikes it so that the
ray’s angle of incidence increases. The axis of
rotation is perpendicular to the plane of the SOLVE FOR THE UNKNOWN
incident and to the reflected rays. What is the final • Determine the final angle of incidence.
angle of reflection of the light ray? i, final  i, initial  mirror
Response  15  20  35
SKETCH AND ANALYZE THE PROBLEM • Use the law of reflection to determine the
• Sketch the situation. final angle of reflection.
• List the knowns and unknowns.
r, final  i, final  35
KNOWN UNKNOWN
EVALUATE THE ANSWER
θi, initial = 15° θr, final = ?
• By rotating the mirror 20°, the angle of
Δθmirror = 20° incidence and the angle of refraction were
both increased by 20°.
 Objects and Plane-Mirror Images

• A plane mirror is a flat, smooth surface from which light

is reflected by specular reflection.
• An object is a source of light rays that are to be reflected
by a mirrored surface, such as the bird shown below.
• Some of the light travels from the bird to the mirror and
reflects. Some of the reflected light from the bird hits
the girl’s eyes.
 Objects and Plane-Mirror Images

Because the brain processes this information as if the

light has traveled in a straight line, it seems to the girl
as if the light had followed the lines. The light seems to
have come from a point behind the mirror.
 Objects and Plane-Mirror Images

• The combination of the image points produced by

reflected light rays forms the image of the object.
• It is a virtual image, which is a type of image formed
by diverging light rays. Images of real objects
produced by plane mirrors are always virtual images.
 Properties of Plane-Mirror Images

• Looking at yourself in a mirror, you also see that your

image is oriented as you are, and it matches your size.
• You can draw rays from the object to the mirror to
determine the size of the image. The sight lines of two
rays originating from the bottom of the candle in the
figure will converge at the bottom of the image.
 Properties of Plane-Mirror Images

Using the law of reflection and congruent-triangle

geometry, it can be shown that object height (ho) is
equal to the image height (hi).
Plane-Mirror Image Height hi  ho
 Properties of Plane-Mirror Images

• Looking at yourself in a mirror, you can see that your

image appears to be the same distance behind the
mirror as you are in front of the mirror.
• In the ray diagram below, the position of the object
with respect to the mirror (xo) has a length equal to the
length of the apparent position of the image with
respect to the mirror (xi).
Plane-Mirror
Image Position
xi   x o
 Properties of Plane-Mirror Images

Note that a plane mirror produces an image with

the same orientation as the object.
 Properties of Plane-Mirror Images

• There is a difference between you and the appearance

of your image in a mirror.
• In the figure, the ray that diverges from the right hand
of the boy converges at what appears to be the left
hand of his image.
 Properties of Plane-Mirror Images

• Left and right appear to be reversed by a plane mirror.

It actually produces a front-to-back reversal.
• The mirror only reverses the boy’s image such that it is
facing in the opposite direction as the boy.
 Quiz

1. Which is caused by a smooth surface, in which

parallel light rays are reflected in parallel?

A normal reflection C specular reflection CORRECT

B diffuse reflection D virtual reflection

 Quiz

2. Which is caused by the scattering of light off a rough

surface?

A specular reflection C diffuse reflection CORRECT

B normal reflection D virtual reflection

 Quiz

3. Which is a flat, smooth surface from which light is

reflected by specular reflection?

A diffuse mirror C plane mirror CORRECT

B convex mirror D concave mirror

 Quiz

4. Which is a type of image formed by diverging light

rays?

A diffuse C real

B specular D virtual CORRECT

 Quiz

5. Which is the correct relationship between object

height, ho, and image height, hi, in a plane mirror?

A ho = hi CORRECT C ho < hi

B ho > hi D ho = 2hi
 Quiz

6.