Introduction
The movement of light on surfaces that are either transparent or opaque is a significant phenomenon that causes various effects. In essence, light propagation is the process in which energy transfers from a particular point to another. This phenomenon is measurable by the existence of a source of light and an object. In this sense, different results are depending on the angle of the light as well as the distance or the ability of the light to pass or not to pass through an object. The processes of propagation of light occur when the light goes through boundaries from one object to the other (Yu et al., 2011). Two of these processes include reflection and refraction of light.
Reflection
Reflection of light is the process in which light rays that fall on the surface of an object are sent back. Mainly, the reflection of light involves situations where the wave does not pass through an object but instead bounces to the wave-front. Mostly, the light reflects on different angles depending on the surface (Miranda, 2016). For instance, when the light bounces off from surfaces that are smooth and shiny, the reflection occurs at the same point that it hits the surface of the object.
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Significantly, this kind of reflection is called the mirror reflection. Also, this reflection is called specular reflection. In this kind of reflection, each incident ray is reflected on a similar angle to the surface normal as that of an incident ray. However, the image of the object appears in a different direction to the surface. Precisely, the image appears in similar likeness to the object but facing a different direction from that of the actual object.
This mirror-like reflection is typical in polished surfaces. For instance, metallic objects are likely to reflect light. On the other hand, by painting the other side of a glass or shine transparent object, there is expected to occur a specular reflection. In this case, the light is prevented from going through the surface and instead bounces back on the same angle that the rays hit the surface.
However, in other instances, the specular reflection may appear as being different or altered in terms of shape and appearance. For example, in shiny round objects like round metal objects, the image may seem as being a little curved a distorted. This fact is a result of the angle at which the rays hit these round surfaces, causing the image to appear to change the distance and shape significantly (Miranda, 2016). Hence, the phase of reflection in specular reflection is highly dependent on the origin of the coordinates.
The other form of reflection is diffuse reflection. Significantly, diffuse reflection retains the particular energy but in the process, loses the image of the object. , the image does not appear on the surface of the object. In this case, the light rays scatter in various angles rather than at the same point that the light hits the surface. Significantly, the diffuse reflection enhances the visibility of objects that are not transparent. The efficiency is a result of the bouncing of rays in different directions. As a result of bouncing off these rays away from the object in different angles enhances the formation of the image in the eyes of the observer.
The diffuse reflection, however, may not be resultant from an object being rough. An object that has a flat surface despite enhancing specular reflection may not prevent diffuse reflection (Plansinis et al., 2015). Therefore, it’s possible to have both specular and diffuse reflections at the same time. The rays may be reflected on the same angle and in different aspects, therefore, appearing in the eyes of the observer and also forming images.
Primarily, in diffuse reflection, most of the light is contributed by the centers that are below the surface of the object. There are several differences between these two reflections. While the specular reflection may be from a polished surface, the diffuse reflection is a result of the white surface (Yu et al., 2011).
Law of Reflection
The law of reflection states that when a ray of light hits a smooth surface, the angle of the reflection is equal to that of incidence. Additionally, the incident ray reflected beam, and the surface standard is all in the identical plan at the point of impact (Yu et al., 2011). This law regulates the reflection off smooth surfaces.
Refraction of Light.
The Snells law of refraction explains that the proportion of the sines of the angle of occurrence and that of refraction is equal to the ratio of the phase of velocities in both media. Alternatively, the proportion is identical to the reciprocal of the indices of refraction (Yu et al., 2011). Essentially, the index of refraction is the number that illustrates the speed of light as it travels through a particular material.
Significantly, the refraction is the alteration of the direction of light moving from a medium to another. Alternatively, which is a result of the gradual change in the medium. The common points of refraction occur in the human eye and also the optical lenses (Meschede, 2017). In essence, these refractive indices differ as a result of the wavelength of the light, and hence, the angle of refraction varies, respectively.
Dispersion is one of the common phenomena in the refraction of light. Mainly, distribution is a situation in which the phase velocity of light is dependent on the frequency of the wave. This phenomenon is common in rainbows, where white light is divided into various colors. In actual sense, the refraction of the wave involves the bending of rays of light. In terms of the speed of light, one wave is slower than that of the material (Yao et al., 2019). The light bends towards the side of the stream (light). However, in the case where the lights speed is higher, the light turns away from its side. In this case, the determining factor is the index of refraction, which dictates how much the light path bends.
Mainly, the refraction of light changes the appearance of objects and significantly distorts them. The refraction of light is typical in water. For instance, if one places an object in a bowl of water, the object appears to be bigger than it is. Also, refraction is likely to affect distance in which case. The object seems to be close to reality. Additionally, this phenomenon is useful in lenses. For instance, cameras can reproduce the image of an object by changing the distance of the object (Miranda, 2016). On the other hand, eyeglasses alter the range of an object by adjusting the angles of refraction.
A typical instance in which refraction creates an impact is the atmospheric refraction. For example, the sun appears to be closer to the earth when it’s rising that its actual distance. This phenomenon is a result of lower pressure in higher altitudes. Lower stress results in a lower refractive index, which causes the rays of light to bend towards the side of the earth (Yu et al., 2011). Also, refraction may be affected by the variations of temperatures. For instance, when hot and cold air exists at the same time, a mirage or heat haze occurs. This situation may arise when exhaust fumes from a chimney are released. Additionally, mirages occur on surfaces such as roads when the hot air from the road surface mixes with cold air from the atmosphere. This kind of refraction causes an illusion forming what appears to be water on the surface from a distance.
Differences between Reflection and Refraction.
Being aspects of propagation of light there are various notable differences between the two elements. For instance, reflection happens where there is the reversion of light waves in the same medium it originates from when the stream falls on the surface. However, the refraction of light involves changing in the direction of waves when they penetrate medium with different density.
Further, the ray falling on a plane returns to the same medium in reflection, while in refraction, the beam travels between two different media. Additionally, in reflection, the rays do not pass through the surface of an object, but the rays bounce away. Notably, in the refraction of light, the light passes through the surface and alters the distance and speed of the wave. However, in both, there is likely to be a difference in the appearance of the image, but the more significant difference is notable in refraction.
Significantly, the angle of occurrence is similar to that of the reflection, which is as opposed to refraction, where the two perspectives are not in any way the same (Asadchy et al., 2016). The other difference occurs in their utilization, where reflection is useful in mirrors, while refraction is commonly valuable for lenses.
Conclusion
Reflection and refraction are phenomena caused by various waves, one of them being light. Significantly, these phenomena explain different occurrences, including the visibility of objects and mechanisms such as the viewing of objects that are near or far away. These mechanizations include the use of optical lenses and the use of telescopes to view distant objects. In essence, these aspects of light propagation are useful in the field of medicine and many other areas such as engineering and science.
References
Asadchy, V. S., Albooyeh, M., Tcvetkova, S. N., Díaz-Rubio, A., Ra'di, Y., & Tretyakov, S. A. (2016). Perfect control of reflection and refraction using spatially dispersive metasurfaces. Physical Review B , 94 (7), 075142.
Meschede, D. (2017). Optics, light and lasers: the practical approach to modern aspects of photonics and laser physics . John Wiley & Sons.
Miranda, D. (2016). Practical demonstration of the theory of the principle of reflection and refraction of light polarized lenses.
Plansinis, B. W., Donaldson, W. R., & Agrawal, G. P. (2015). What is the temporal analog of reflection and refraction of optical beams? Physical review letters , 115 (18), 183901.
Yao, Y., Liang, X., Zhu, M., Zhu, W., Geng, J., & Jin, R. (2019). Analysis and experiments on reflection and refraction of orbital angular momentum waves. IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation , 67 (4), 2085-2094.
Yu, N., Genevet, P., Kats, M. A., Aieta, F., Tetienne, J. P., Capasso, F., & Gaburro, Z. (2011). Light propagation with phase discontinuities: generalized laws of reflection and refraction. Science , 334 (6054), 333-337.
