Reflection And Refraction Flashcards
What does the reflection of sound cause?
Echoes
What does the law of reflection state?
The angle of incidence=the angle of reflection
If a light ray hits at surface at 32’ degrees what angle will it be reflected at?
32’ degrees
What is the normal?
A imaginary line at 90’ degrees to the surface
What is specular reflection?
Reflection in which the light travelling towards a surface in one direction is all reflected in a single direction.
What is diffuse reflection?
When light is reflected of a surface and is scattered in different directions.
Why may light waves change?
As they travel through two materials with different densities, e.g two transparent materials.
What is refraction?
The process of which a wave changes speed and sometimes direction upon entering a denser of less dense medium.
How can you show the refraction of a wave at a boundary?
Ray diagrams
What is denser glass or air and how does this effect refraction?
Glass is denser than air, so a light ray passing from air into glass slows down. If the ray meets the boundary at an angle to the normal, it bends towards the normal.
What is a useful ways of remembering how their speed and direction changes of light during refraction?
‘Fast’
Faster away, slower towards (the normal)
If a wave slows down what happens to its wavelength?
If a wave slows down, its wave length will decrease. The effect of this can be shown on wave front diagrams. The diagram shows that as a wave travels into a denser medium, such as water, it slows down and the wavelength decreases. Although the wave slows down, its frequency remains the same, due to the fact that its wavelength is shorter.
