Reflection & Total Internal Reflection

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Description

Reflection & Total Internal Reflection

TRY SOME QUICK QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TO GET STARTED
Does light undergo refraction as it travels across the boundary between one transparent medium into another?
Yes! When light leaves a vacuum or travels from one transparent medium into another, it undergoes refraction causing it to change both direction and speed.
What is meant by the term refraction?
Refraction refers to the way light changes both direction and speed as it travels from one transparent medium into another.
What is a medium?
_x000D_ _x000D_ A medium is any transparent material through which an electromagnetic wave propagates (plural media).
What happens when light undergoes refraction?
As light travels from a fast medium such as air to a slow medium such as water it bends toward 'the normal' and slows down. As light passes from a slow medium such as diamond to a faster medium such as glass it bends away from 'the normal' and speeds up.

About the diagram

Have you already checked out An Introduction to Reflection, Refraction and Dispersion?

It is the opening page of our Reflection, Refraction and Dispersion Series and contains masses of useful information. This is the table of contents:

The diagram

  • In this diagram sunlight or artificial light travelling through water reflects upwards off the body of the fish.
  • For clarities sake,  the diagram doesn’t show light travelling towards the fish.
  • Check out our diagram dealing with the way parallel incident light rays scatter in different directions as they are reflected off the body of the fish:  Sunlight Reflects off a Fish in Water
  • Notice how the light reflected off the fish and towards the surface is incident to the boundary between water and air.
  • As the incident light strikes the surface a proportion is refracted as it crosses the boundary into the air and a proportion is reflected off the surface back into the water.
  • The diagram demonstrates the paths taken for a ray travelling parallel to the normal and striking the boundary at right angles and for rays at angles of 150, 300,  450  to the normal.
  • Notice that the amount of light that is reflected increases as the angle increases but that above 48.60 total internal reflection takes place and all the light is reflected.
  • Depending on the angle at which the light strikes the surface, different proportions are refracted or reflected.
  • The ratio of the reflected intensity to the incident intensity is called the reflectance (R) and the ratio of the transmitted intensity to the incident intensity is called the transmittance (T).  Energy conservation requires that R + T = 1 (if there is no absorption).
    • The reflectance of the surface of a material is its effectiveness at reflecting radiant energy.
    • The transmittance of the surface of a material is its effectiveness at transmitting radiant energy.

Some key terms

Angle of refraction

The angle of refraction measures the angle to which light bends as it crosses the boundary between different media.

  • The angle of refraction is measured between the bent ray and an imaginary line called the normal.
  • In optics, the normal is a line drawn on a ray diagram perpendicular to, so at a right angle to (900), the boundary between two media.
  • Snell’s law is a formula used to describe the relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction when light crosses the boundary between transparent media, such as water and air or water and glass.
Reflection

Reflection takes place when incoming light strikes the surface of a medium, obstructing some wavelengths which bounce back into the medium from which they originated.

Reflection takes place when light is neither absorbed by an opaque medium nor transmitted through a transparent medium.

If the reflecting surface is very smooth, the reflected light is called specular or regular reflection.

Specular reflection occurs when light waves reflect off a smooth surface such as a mirror. The arrangement of the waves remains the same and an image of objects that the light has already encountered become visible to an observer.

Diffuse reflection takes place when light reflects off a rough surface. In this case, scattering takes place and waves are reflected randomly in all directions and so no image is produced.

Angle of incidence

The angle of incidence measures the angle at which incoming light strikes a surface.

  • When light is travelling towards something it is said to be incident to that surface or object.
  • The angle of incidence is measured between a ray of incoming light and an imaginary line called the normal.
  • In optics, the normal is a line drawn on a ray diagram perpendicular to, so at a right angle to (900), the boundary between two media.
  • Incident light may have travelled from the Sun or a man-made source or may have already been reflected off another surface such as a mirror.
  • When incident light strikes a surface or object it may undergo absorption, reflection, refraction, transmission or any combination of these optical effects.
Related diagrams

Each of the diagrams below can be viewed on its own page with a full explanation.

References

The angle of incidence measures the angle at which incoming light strikes a surface.

  • The angle of incidence is measured between a ray of incoming light and an imaginary line called the normal.
  • In optics, the normal is a line drawn on a ray diagram perpendicular to, so at a right angle to (900), the boundary between two media.
  • If the boundary between the media is curved, then the normal is drawn at a tangent to the boundary.
Angle of reflection

The angle of reflection is the angle between the incident light ray and the reflected light ray, both measured from an imaginary line called the normal.

  • According to the law of reflection, the angle of incidence (the angle between the incident ray and the normal) is always equal to the angle of reflection.
  • The angle of reflection is measured between the reflected ray of light and an imaginary line perpendicular to the surface, known as the normal.
  • In optics, the normal is a straight line drawn on a ray-tracing diagram at a 90º angle (perpendicular) to the boundary where two different media meet.
  • If the boundary between two media is curved, the normal is drawn perpendicular to the tangent to that point on the boundary.
  • Reflection can be diffuse (when light reflects off rough surfaces) or specular (in the case of smooth, shiny surfaces), affecting the direction of reflected rays.
Related diagrams

Each diagram below can be viewed on its own page with a full explanation.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflection_(physics)

The angle of reflection measures the angle at which reflected light bounces off a surface.

  • The angle of reflection is measured between a ray of light which has been reflected off a surface and an imaginary line called the normal.
  • In optics, the normal is a line drawn on a ray diagram perpendicular to, so at a right angle to (900), to the boundary between two media.
  • If the boundary between the media is curved then the normal is drawn perpendicular to the boundary.

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