Reflection of light

Reflection of Light:

• The process of sending back light rays which falls on the surface of an object is called REFLECTION of light.
• Silver metal is one of the best reflectors of light.
• Mirrors we use on our dressing tables in our home are plane mirrors.
• A ray of light is the straight line along which the light traveled and a bundle of light rays is called a beam of light.

 Laws of Reflection of light:

1. The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection, and
2. The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal to the mirror at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.

Note: These laws of reflection are applicable to all types of reflecting surfaces including spherical surfaces.

Real and Virtual images

• An image is formed when the light rays coming from an object meet at a point after reflection from a mirror (or refraction from lens).
• The images are of two types:
  1. Real Images:- Real images are formed when rays of light that comes from an object (or source) meets at a point after reflection from a mirror (or refraction from a lens). Real images can be formed on a screen and can be seen with the eyes.
  2. Virtual images:- Virtual image is an image in which the outgoing rays from an object do not meet at a point. It will appear to meet at a point in or behind the optical device (i.e., a mirror) but they do not actually meet after reflection from a mirror (or refraction from a lens). A plane mirror always forms virtual images.