In this article, we will discuss in detail the laws of reflection of light class 12, its definition, statement, and its explanation.
Previously we have discussed the Reflection and its type viz., diffuse reflection and specular reflection. If you don’t know about them you should read this.
There are two laws of reflection:
- First law of reflection
- Second law of reflection
But before we understand the laws, we need to know some basic terms which would help us understand the laws better. You can jump to the laws of reflection if you already know these terms.
Some basic terminologies
Incident ray
The Ray of light that falls on the surface is called an incident ray. The left Ray in the diagram is the incident ray.
Reflected ray
The Ray of light that bounces back after colliding with the surface is called a reflected ray.
Normal ray
The line which is perpendicular to the surface, at the point of reflection is called a Normal ray. The normal ray makes an angle of 90 degrees with the surface at the point of reflection.
Angle of Incidence
The angle between the incident ray and the Normal ray is called the Angle of Incidence.
Angle of Reflection
The angle between the normal ray and the reflected ray is called the Angle of reflection.
Since you are familiar with the basic terminologies of reflection, now we will discuss the Laws.
First law of Reflection
The first Law of reflection states that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
For example, if an incident ray makes an angle of 45 degrees with the normal ray (line perpendicular to the surface at the point). The reflected ray would also make the angle of 45 degrees with the normal ray.
Second law of reflection
The incident ray, normal ray, and reflected ray all lie in the same plane.
As you can see in the above figure the incident ray, normal ray, and the reflected ray all lie in the same plane or surface.
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