🪞Reflection vs Refraction🔍
When light meets a surface, it can bounce back or pass through. Reflection and refraction explain mirrors, lenses and rainbows alike.
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🪞Reflection
- ✓Light bounces off a surface back into the same medium
- ✓Angle of incidence equals angle of reflection
- ✓The light stays in its original medium
- ✓Creates images in mirrors and on still water
- ✓Speed of the light does not change
🔍Refraction
- ✓Light bends as it passes into a different medium
- ✓Caused by a change in the speed of light
- ✓The direction changes; the medium changes
- ✓Creates effects like a straw looking bent in water
- ✓Governs how lenses focus light
Verdict
Reflection keeps light in one medium and bounces it; refraction sends it into a new medium and bends it. Glasses, cameras and your own eye lens all rely on refraction.
Frequently asked
Why does a straw look bent in a glass of water?+
Refraction bends the light as it leaves the water and enters air, shifting the straw's apparent position.
What law governs reflection?+
The law of reflection: the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection, measured from the normal.
What causes refraction?+
Light changes speed when it enters a denser or less dense medium, which bends its path.
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