Name: Nature of Image Formed by a Plane Mirror
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 4 min 57 s
Description: Ever wondered about the nature of an image formed by a plane mirror? Learn about the properties of the image formed in a plane mirror with the help of this i...

Question

With the help of diagrams, explain reflection from smooth and rough surfaces.

Accepted Answer

The way the light is reflected by a surface depends on the nature of the surface. When a light beam falls on a smooth surface, the incident light rays parallel to each other and reflect from the surface in one particular direction. This reflection is called regular reflection. This happens because at the point of incidence, normals also remain parallel. Due to which angle of incidence and angle of reflection also remain same for all the rays.

When a light beam falls on a rough surface, the reflected light rays are not parallel to each other and reflected in different directions. This reflection is called irregular reflection. This happens because for rough surface, normals for all incident rays are not parallel to each other. Due to which one pair of angles of incidence and angles of reflection is not same as other pair. So despite being parallel incident rays, reflected rays are not parallel.

With the help of diagrams, explain reflection from smooth and rough surfaces.

Important Questions on Light, Shadows and Reflection

Learn and Prepare for any exam you want !