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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Explain reflection laws at the atomic level
The "equal angles" law of refection on a flat mirror is a macroscopic phenomenon. To put it in anthropomorphic terms, how do individual photons know the orientation of the mirror so as to bounce off ...
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How are classical optics phenomena explained in QED (Snell's law)?
How is the following classical optics phenomenon explained in quantum electrodynamics?
Reflection and Refraction
Are they simply due to photons being absorbed and re-emitted? How do we get to Snell'...
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Phase shift of 180 degrees of transversal wave on reflection from denser medium
Can anyone please provide an intuitive explanation of why phase shift of 180 degrees occurs in the Electric Field of a EM wave, when reflected from an optically denser medium?
I tried searching for ...
WhizKid
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What happens when a photon hits a mirror?
When a photon of light hits a mirror does the exact same photon of light bounce back or is it absorbed then one with the same properties emitted? If the same one is bounced back does it's velocity ...
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How does a one-sided glass work?
How does a one-sided glass work? If seen from the outer side, we can see through thinking it is transparent, while if seen from the inside, the glass acts as a mirror. How?
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How do mirrors work?
My physics professor explained to me that electromagnetic waves are consisted of two components - electric and magnetic - which cause each other.
Which part of the mirror actually reflects the wave?
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How are photons "consumed"?
I have very little background in physics, so I apologize if this question is painfully naive.
Consider the following thought experiment: an observer is in a closed room whose walls, floor, and ...
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What is the difference between a white object and a mirror?
I was taught that something which reflects all the colors of light is white. The function of a mirror is the same, it also reflects all light. What's the difference?
Update:
But what if the white ...
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Does light reflect if incident at exactly the critical angle?
A lot of textbooks and exam boards claim that light incident at exactly the critical angle is transmitted along the media boundary (i.e. at right-angles to the normal), but this seems to violate the ...
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Why does sunset over a body of water cause a path of light stretching towards the horizon?
Have you ever notice the sunset's image in the sea? It's like long light path to the end of the horizon! I've attached a sample of this:
How can we explain this? I know that it can happen even in ...
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How does reflection work?
In Newton's model of light as being composed of particles, it's easy to imagine reflection as being the rebounding of individual corpuscles off a surface. However, since light can also behave like a ...
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Principle of Reflection on atomic level
This well-observed phenomenon has, besides several others, always been a fascination to me. We are well aware of several theories, experiments, and practical applications of this well-known phenomenon,...
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What longest time ever was achieved at holding light in a closed volume?
For what longest possible time it was possible to hold light in a closed volume with mirrored walls?
I would be most interested for results with empty volume but results with solid-state volume may ...
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When light reflects off a mirror, does the wave function collapse?
This question is specific to the Copenhagen interpretation, which states that the wave function collapses on interaction. If we have a beam of light reflected off a mirror, whether you see this light ...
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The Goos Hanchen shift mechanism
When the light is totally reflected in the interface between dense and less-dense medium,
we know that the reflected beam will shift a little. Currently I have known the reflection coef r, will be a ...
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