Reflection Definition and 966 Threads

The Fresnel equations indicate that radiation will be 100% transmitted if two mediums have the same refractive indices. If that is true, then whey is there so much reflection off of, for instance, cracks in glass? Is this because there is a microscopic vacancy where the index of refraction...

Does natural light when it hits an object cause transition of electrons between energy states and depending on the chemical composition of the material (hence the size of the transition) determine which colour we see? So everything around us is emitting light (photons)? Everything around us is...

Light beam hits the mirror perpendicularly and returns to the source (left picture). The same system in horizontal motion (right picture) is skewed due to length contraction so that both beam and mirror are at higher angle. Because the beam returns to source in the system's rest frame, it must...

Homework Statement Hi, This is not a homework question. I have my exam for my physics unit tomorrow. I am pretty set for it except for questions of this type. Can you please show me how I can get the answer? Thanks [/B] Homework Equations N/A The Attempt at a Solution N/A

In reference to sarcasm in another thread, no it is NOT as good as Interstellar. But it was a quite good film for the most part. It actually shares the optimism about the future that is much needed lately, as well as a fairly realistic picture of what science development is like. (Compared to...

I understand that reflection of EM waves is the electrons on the surface of an object being caused to oscillate, and transmission is the electrons all the way through the object being caused to oscillate. Why, in reflection, when the electrons on the surface of an object are caused to...

I am trying to understand the derivation behind the equations for the phase shift incurred when light hits an interface between two lossless dielectrics under total internal reflection (TIR) from what I gathered in S. O. Kasap's Optoelectronics and Photonics. On the final pair of pages...

So a standing wave is one which looks to be standing still at certain harmonic frequencies. At these frequencies, when the wave reflects off the end, it will undergo a phase change of 180 degrees. This creates constructive interference as shown below: In the case of a wave on a string, since...

If I travel at the speed of light and have a mirror can i see my reflection? Thanks Any ideas?

Homework Statement Suppose a 12.0eV electrons approach a potential barrier of height 4.2eV. For what barrier thickness is the reflection at a maximum? Known: v_0=6.7*10^(-19)J E=1.9*10^(-18)J m=9.11*10^(-31)kg hbar=1.055*10^(-34)J*s (I have converted from eV to J to make the units...

If there was a room with all walls that are 100% reflective and a light source. If you were to instantaneously remove that light source, would the room still be lighted? If yes, if an object and the light source were previously present the room, and were to be instantaneously removed, would the...

Homework Statement The net deviation of ray A(Figure(i))) in counter clockwise direction after one reflection and emergence is 180+2i-4r (True False) Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I don't know how to begin to solve this problem, so there is no attempt at a solution.

Hi everyone, the fact that a wave reflects from a string when it's end is free and the end of the string rises to a height of 2A seems to confuse me a bit. Even though I find it somewhat intuitive I would appreciate a detailed explanation of the same. Thanks in advance.

I want to why in ray optics. Angle between incident ray and reflecting surface normal is equal to angle between reflected ray and reflecting surface normal. Simply why angle of incidence is equal to angle of reflection?

I read in some place that the mirror be it 100 per cent reflective, will also absorb if a light strikes to it. Is it true? what does it absorbs?

I wonder how the wave particle duality property of light persists with the laws of reflection? How exactly is a photon directed in the same angle (i.e. the angle of incidence) by a particle as reflection while abiding through the quantum theory and the Raman Effect? Such as we throw an elastic...

Dear Experts, When an electromagnetic wave moves from a rarer to a denser medium or gets reflected by a mirror, it encounters a phase shift of pi or (lambda/2), in that case, the reflected wave will be out of phase with the incident wave. I have a very basic (maybe non intuitive or even...

I have a simple question let's say object hits the wall at angle and reflect. Will reaction force from that impact exerted on wall be red line or green line ? ( I would like explanation why in each case)

Hi, I am a little confused with the phase change that occurs in closed end wind instruments. According to http://newt.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/flutes.v.clarinets.html, the phase does not change when the sound wave reflects off the closed end of the instrument. I thought that the phase changes by 180...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewster%27s_angle The dipoles that produce the transmitted (refracted) light oscillate in the polarization direction of that light. Why? Does that last sentence actually say no light is reflected back if the angle of impact is orthogonal to the surface?

Hi everyone! Just wondering why when light hits glass it can pass through and be reflected at the same time. I'd like the classical and quantum explanation if possible. Also try to keep it simple. Thank you!

Homework Statement A beam of light is incident on the boundary between a piece of glass to air. The index of refraction of the piece of glass is 1.4. Find the critical angle. It is quite simple to figure out this problem. Sinpheta critical = n2/n1 (as long as n1 is greater than n2)...

Homework Statement Here is a plot of Reflectance vs Wavelength from a multilayer thin film stack of alternating high and low refractive indices: I want plot this in Matlab, but what equation was used for this plot? The diagram is from my textbook, there are many like it online but...

Homework Statement Suppose light from is moving from water to air. The critical angle be θ i.e. for angle of incidence θ, the angle of refraction is 90°. Refractive index of water wrt air be μ. Suppose the angle of incidence (i) is increased by 1° to θ+1. What happens to the...

The size of image formed by a concave mirror is proportional to R^n where R is radius of curvature. Find n. Cannot understand how to proceed. Need help.

I've got a problem asking for the reflection coefficient of a system consisting of a ideal conductor covered with a thin layer of lossless dielectric. I just don't know what to do.How can I do it? Thanks

Hi Forum, Simple question here, but one that has been bugging me. Please look at picture. So, rays from the baseball can go from the lower mirror to the eye. (1 image) Rays from the baseball go from the upper mirror to the eye. (1 image) Rays from the baseball go from the lower mirror to...

So I was reading that Osmium will break down into a poison oxide gas if it is heated in the presence of air. If Osmium is blended into an alloy will that eliminate its ability to oxidize in such a manner. I have been looking at Osmium as a UV reflective material but poison gas break down is...

Homework Statement Let ##n## be a unit vector in ##V## . Define a linear operator ##F_n## on ##V## such that $$F_n(u) = u-2\langle u, n \rangle n \; \mathrm{for} \; u \in V.$$ ##F_n## is called the reflection on ##V## along the direction of ##n##. Let ##S## be an orthogonal linear operator on...

Please tell me about common materials which absorb IR sunlight radiation in the band of spectrum 1.1-2,5 microns and which will not allow the penetration of IR if some surface is covered with thin layer of them ?

Homework Statement An infinite string is made of three sections, a single intermediate section of length a and density p1 between two semi-infinite sections of density p2. A wave of frequency f is incident on the intermediate section. If a is an integer multiple of the wavelength in that...

Please excuse my terminology as I am teaching myself linear algebra. I am attempting to construct a vector which can provide reflection from the origin, eventually I want to be able to move this point of reflection anywhere (translation and rotation) but I'm starting at the origin since that is...

Dear Forum, An object, like a metal, that is highly reflecting (white body) is very different from a very emissive object (black body). An object that closely behaves like a black body absorbs all the incident radiation. But it also "emit" all the absorbed radiation (over a range of...

Why do parabolic reflectors for microwaves (e.g. satellite TV) not reflect light like a mirror? Why do things like spoons, which are presumably conductive, reflect light? Thank you

Homework Statement An object 0.6cm tall is placed 16.5cm to the left of the vertex of a concave spherical mirror having a radius of curvature of 22.0cm. Determine the position, size, orientation and nature of the image. Homework Equations \frac {1}{S} + \frac {1}{S'} = \frac {1}{f} =...

In 1637 Descartes gave the corpuscular model of light and derived Snell's law. This Corpuscular model of light was further developed by Isaac Newton in his famous book entitled OPTICKS and because of the tremendous popularity of this book, the corpuscular model is very often attributed to him...

why total internal reflection happens only when a beam of light travels from a medium with higher index of refraction to a medium with lower index of refraction and not the other way around (i.e from a medium with lower index of refraction to a medium with a higher one)?

A simple question: is the polarization of light affected in any way upon reflection? What about upon refraction/diffraction? What interactions affect polarization?

Say there is an electric field oriented along the x-axis and is propagating along the z-axis. A medium exists from z>0. The fields for z<0 can be written as I'm confused on the negative sign of the reflected magnetic field.

[b]1. Light traveling in air strikes a glass surface with n = 1.48. For what range of angles will total internal reflection occur? [b]2. sinΘc = n2/n1 [b]3. I did this equation with air as n2 and glass as n1 and then got Θc=42.5°. After that I subtracted that from the normal (90°)...

Right, so, I am new to this, so please excuse me if I make a glaring error. Say there is can of water with a layer on oil on the surface. Light (of lambda=590nm) is shone straight down on the oil. How do I find out the thickness of the oil layer that would most strongly reflect the light?

I can show that for a step potential and E < V, that the wave function is fully reflected and has no transmission into the potential interval (interval 2), x =0 at interval boundary, by Wave equation for interval 1: Ψ1 = A1eik1x + B1e-ik1x Wave equation for interval 2: Ψ2 = A2eκ2x...

Homework Statement If two waves are created at x = 0 and t = 0 (and are in phase to begin with), and are then sent traveling along a string in the positive x direction, and they get reflected at the end of the string, there will be a similar pair of waves traveling in the negative...

Hi, thanks for stopping by.I'm studying for an exam tomorrow, I would really appreciate even just a push in the right direction! Homework Statement A plane mirror and a convex mirror are placed facing each other and 50 cm apart. A candle is placed on the principal axis 20 cm from the plane...

Hi, When we have total internal reflection of light at the boundary of an optically dense to an optically thinner medium, one can show that the component of the Poynting vector perpendicular to the boundary is zero, i.e. there is no energy flow into the thinner medium. However, the electrical...

If a red light drops on a red object, we know that all of the red light is reflected, and none is absorbed. But what happens if a red light drops on a white surface, is all of the red light reflected, will the intensity of the reflected light be the same? Or will the reflected light be of a...

Hello, Does anyone have a reference to a proof of the reflective property of a hyperbola? I need a proof that uses the geometric definition of a hyperbola as the locus of points $X$ such that $|XF_1-XF_2|=2a$ for some fixed points $F_1$ and $F_2$ and a positive constant $a$. The proof may also...

Homework Statement For self study, I've been trying to understand my convex mirror. Some online instruction I've been following states that if an incidence ray (red line in my model, below) parallel to the principal axis (black line) hits a convex mirror (full curvature outlined in black...

Hi guys and girls, Just had a question I have been thinking about for a while. Suppose you have a sound maker than makes a pure tone at a particular frequency. You play this tone for an instant directed directly at a flat wall (not absorbent at all). If you could measure the reflected tone...

What are the properties that make materials reflect or absorb a certain EM wave or just allow it to pass through ( transparency ) ??