Understanding the Reflection of Light: Law of Reflection of Light

1. The reflection of light can be studied by using light ray(s) and a plane of mirror which is placed on a piece of white paper.

image from: http://www.hsphys.com/pmirrb.jpg

2. When the ray of light is incident onto the surface of a plane mirror, the light ray does not pass through the mirror but is reflected back by the plane mirror.

3. The phenomena of ths experiment shows the phenomena of reflected light.

The Law of Reflection of Light States that:

1. The incident Ray, the reflected ray and the normal all lie in the same plane.

2. The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.


Image courtesy:
http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/download/Coll_Athabasca/Unit3-Lesson2TheMovementofLight/reflection.jpg

More information at:

www.hsphys.com/ light_and_optics.html

Characteristics of Image that is formed on a plane mirror

1) It is upright
2) It is virtual
3) The distance form the object to the mirror is the same as the distance from the image to the mirror.
4) It is the same size as the object
5) It is laterally inverted

All the best!