Questions tagged [reflection]
This tag is for questions relating to reflection, the change in direction of a wavefront at an interface between two different media so that the wavefront returns into the medium from which it originated. A familiar example of reflection comes from water waves; as the waves travel they reflect off objects that are floating in the water, and also reflect off the walls of the container holding the water.
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Can nuclear material be detonated with light?
In this question https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/65842/nuclear-solar-reflective-plasma-drive I propose a question to use the light from the sun to start a nuclear chain reaction to propel a ...
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Is there a way to calculate the angle between the refracted and reflected rays given the refractive index?
Is there a way to calculate the refracted and reflected rays? I know we use Snell's law to calculate the refracted rays, but is there a formula to calculate the angle of the reflected rays, or does it ...
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If a silver screen works for a movie projector then why not a mirror?
I have a projector and use a white sheet, thumb tacked, and stretched over a wall. It works fine. I went to the movie theater and looked at their screen closely. It was a fine silvery white glitter-...
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What is the speed of light during reflection? [duplicate]
What is the speed of light in a vacuum when the light reflects off of a mirror?
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Is reflected photon the same? [duplicate]
When a single photon is reflected is the same one, or is it a new photon (emitted) while the 'original' photon has been absorbed?
I'm not sure how to imagine a refleced photon - it's not a ball ...
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Treatment of infinite reflections in thin-film interference
Why do we only consider interference of the first two reflected waves when studying thin-film interference (see attached diagram)? Is there a rigorous treatment that considers the infinite number of ...
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Why no image is formed when an incident and reflected ray intersect?
When two light rays intersect after reflecting from a concave mirror they form a real image.
but what happens if, say, a ray from the head of the object A collide with the reflected ray DA'? It might ...
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Isn't Reflection just absorption and emission? [duplicate]
How do mirrors work? How do the atoms in a mirror reflect photons. Does it absorb and reflect? As I understand it, after an atom absorbs a photon it is bound to release that same photon of the same ...
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Why does reflected light not cancel out depending on color?
I have been learning about light reflection and refraction and was thinking about objects reflecting only certain wave-lengths.
Why doesn't a red object with a green light shone on it appear black?
I ...
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Can a real object also be considered as a real image if the direction of rays were to be reversed?
I came across the concept in a book wherein a real object is classified as a body that emits diverging beams of light; whereas the virtual objects are a point or a collection of point where the light ...
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Finding the limiting refractive index of a rainbow
Give the limiting refractive index of a rainbow.
The raindrops are modelled as spherical droplets, with refractive index $n$, with parallel rays from the Sun incident on it. I have a very limited ...
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Object and Image Distance from Image height, Object height, and focal length [closed]
Is there a way to find the object and image distances from the object height, image height, and focal length? I understand that the magnification is equal to $-\frac{d_i}{d_o}$ or $\frac{h_i}{h_o}$, ...
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Would a hypothetical perfect reflector emit thermal radiation?
The question says it all. I believe a hypothetical perfect reflector is what's referred to as a "white body", but I might be wrong. From what I understand such a hypothetical perfect ...
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Minimum Radius of Curvature an Optical Fiber can be bent
Using the thickness and refractive index of an optical fiber, is it possible to know the maximum radius of curvature it can be bent before there are losses due to refraction?
In my research, I came ...
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Height of Mirror Required [duplicate]
I was curious about the minimum height of a mirror required to see your full body, and I found out that it was half of your height, in other words the minimum height to view the image = your height / ...
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