When waves interact with matter, they can be reflected, transmitted, or a combination of both. Waves that are transmitted can be refracted.
Light doesn’t travel through a mirror, but is returned by the mirror’s surface. These waves are reflected. When waves strike the surface of a medium at an angle, their direction changes. These waves are refracted. Usually waves are partly reflected and partly refracted when they fall on a transparent medium.
29.1Reflection When a wave reaches a boundary between two media, usually some or all of the wave bounces back into the first medium.
29.1Reflection The return of a wave back to its original medium is called reflection. Fasten a spring to a wall and send a pulse along the spring’s length. The wall is a very rigid medium compared with the spring, so all the wave energy is reflected back along the spring. Waves that travel along the spring are almost totally reflected at the wall.
29.1Reflection If the wall is replaced with a less rigid medium, such as a heavy spring, some energy is transmitted into the new medium. Some of the wave energy is still reflected. The incoming wave is partially reflected.
29.1Reflection A metal surface is rigid to light waves that shine upon it. Light energy does not propagate into the metal, but instead is returned in a reflected wave. This is why metals such as silver and aluminum are so shiny. They reflect almost all the frequencies of visible light.
29.1Reflection Materials such as glass and water are not as rigid to light waves. • When light shines perpendicularly on the surface of still water, about 2% of its energy is reflected and the rest is transmitted. • When light strikes glass perpendicularly, about 4% of its energy is reflected. • Except for slight losses, the rest is transmitted.
29.1Reflection What happens when a wave reaches a boundary between two media?
29.2The Law of Reflection The law of reflection states that the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection are equal to each other.
29.2The Law of Reflection In one dimension, reflected waves simply travel back in the direction from which they came. In two dimensions, the situation is a little different. The direction of incident and reflected waves is described by straight-line rays.
29.2The Law of Reflection Incident rays and reflected rays make equal angles with a line perpendicular to the surface, called the normal. • The angle between the incident ray and the normal is the angle of incidence. • The angle between the reflected ray and the normal is the angle of reflection. • Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection
29.2The Law of Reflection The law of reflection states that the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection are equal to each other. The incident ray, the normal, and the reflected ray all lie in the same plane. The law of reflection applies to both partially reflected and totally reflected waves.
29.2The Law of Reflection think! If you look at your blue shirt in a mirror, what is the color of its image? What does this tell you about the frequency of light incident upon a mirror compared with the frequency of the light after it is reflected?
29.2The Law of Reflection think! If you look at your blue shirt in a mirror, what is the color of its image? What does this tell you about the frequency of light incident upon a mirror compared with the frequency of the light after it is reflected? Answer: The color of the image will be the same as the color of the object because the frequency of light is not changed by reflection.
29.2The Law of Reflection What is the law of reflection?
29.3Mirrors Mirrors produce only virtual images.
29.3Mirrors If a candle flame is placed in front of a plane (flat) mirror, rays of light from the candle are reflected from the mirror in all directions. • Each of the infinite number of rays obeys the law of reflection. • The rays diverge (spread apart) from the tip of the flame, and continue diverging from the mirror upon reflection. • These divergent rays appear to originate from a point located behind the mirror.
29.3Mirrors You perceive the candle flame to be located behind the mirror. A virtual image appears to be in a location where light does not really reach. Mirrors produce only virtual images.
29.3Mirrors Your eye cannot ordinarily tell the difference between an object and its virtual image. • The light enters your eye in exactly the same manner as it would if there really were an object where you see the image. • The image is the same distance behind the mirror as the object is in front of it. • The image and object are the same size.
29.3Mirrors The law of reflection holds for curved mirrors. However, the sizes and distances of object and image are no longer equal. The virtual image formed by a convex mirror (a mirror that curves outward) is smaller and closer to the mirror than the object is.
29.3Mirrors The law of reflection holds for curved mirrors. However, the sizes and distances of object and image are no longer equal. The virtual image formed by a convex mirror (a mirror that curves outward) is smaller and closer to the mirror than the object is. When an object is close to a concave mirror (a mirror that curves inward), the virtual image is larger and farther away than the object is.
29.3Mirrors What kind of images do mirrors produce?
29.4Diffuse Reflection When light is incident on a rough surface, it is reflected in many directions.
29.4Diffuse Reflection Diffuse reflection is the reflection of light from a rough surface. Each ray obeys the law of reflection. The many different angles that incident light rays encounter at the surface cause reflection in many directions.
29.4Diffuse Reflection If the differences in elevations in a surface are small (less than about one eighth the wavelength of the light that falls on it), the surface is considered polished. A surface may be polished for long wavelengths, but not polished for short wavelengths. Whether a surface is a diffuse reflector or a polished reflector depends on the wavelength of the waves it reflects.
29.4Diffuse Reflection Visible light that reflects from a sheet of paper is diffusely reflected. Rays of light incident on paper encounter millions of tiny flat surfaces facing in all directions, so they are reflected in all directions. Diffuse reflection allows us to read the page from any direction or position. We see most of the things around us by diffuse reflection. Ordinary paper has a rough surface when viewed with a microscope.
29.4Diffuse Reflection Diffuse reflection allows us to see most things around us. • Light is diffusely reflected from paper in many directions.
29.4Diffuse Reflection Diffuse reflection allows us to see most things around us. • Light is diffusely reflected from paper in many directions. • Light incident on a smooth mirror is only reflected in one direction.
29.4Diffuse Reflection What happens when light is incident on a rough surface?
29.5Reflection of Sound Sound energy not reflected is absorbed or transmitted.
29.5Reflection of Sound An echo is reflected sound. More sound energy is reflected from a rigid and smooth surface than from a soft and irregular surface. Sound energy not reflected is absorbed or transmitted. The study of the reflective properties of surfaces is acoustics.
29.5Reflection of Sound When walls are too reflective, the sound becomes garbled because of multiple reflections of sound waves called reverberations. When the reflective surfaces are more absorbent, the sound level is lower, and the hall sounds dull and lifeless. In the design of an auditorium or concert hall, a balance between reverberation and absorption is desired.
29.5Reflection of Sound The walls of concert halls are often designed with grooves so that the sound waves are diffused. A person in the audience receives a small amount of reflected sound from many parts of the wall.
29.5Reflection of Sound • With grooved walls, sound reflects from many small sections of the wall to a listener.
29.5Reflection of Sound • With grooved walls, sound reflects from many small sections of the wall to a listener. • With flat walls, an intense reflected sound comes from only one part of the wall.
29.5Reflection of Sound Reflective surfaces are often placed behind and above the stage to direct sound out to an audience. Both sound and light obey the same law of reflection. If a reflector is oriented so that you can see a particular musical instrument, you will hear it also. Sound from the instrument will follow the line of sight to the reflector and then to you.
29.5Reflection of Sound The shiny plates above the orchestra in Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco reflect both light and sound.
29.5Reflection of Sound What happens to sound energy that is not reflected?
29.6Refraction When a wave that is traveling at an angle changes its speed upon crossing a boundary between two media, it bends.
29.6Refraction Let an axle with two wheels roll along a pavement that slopes downward onto a downward-sloping mowed lawn. • It rolls more slowly on the lawn due to interaction of the wheels with the blades of grass. • Rolled at an angle, it will be deflected from its straight-line course. • The wheel that first meets the lawn slows down first. • The axle pivots, and the path bends toward the normal. • When both wheels reach the grass, it continues in a straight line at reduced speed.
29.6Refraction When a wave that is traveling at an angle changes its speed upon crossing a boundary between two media, it bends. Refraction is the bending of a wave as it crosses the boundary between two media at an angle.
29.6Refraction Water waves travel faster in deep water than in shallow water. • The wave refracts at the boundary where the depth changes.
29.6Refraction Water waves travel faster in deep water than in shallow water. • The wave refracts at the boundary where the depth changes. • The sample ray is perpendicular to the wave front it intersects.
29.6Refraction In drawing a diagram of a wave, it is convenient to draw lines, called wave fronts, that represent the positions of different crests. • At each point along a wave front, the wave is moving perpendicular to the wave front. • The direction of motion of the wave is represented by rays that are perpendicular to the wave fronts. • Sometimes we analyze waves in terms of wave fronts, and at other times in terms of rays.
29.6Refraction What causes a wave to bend?
29.7Refraction of Sound Sound waves are refracted when parts of a wave front travel at different speeds.
29.7Refraction of Sound Sound refraction occurs in uneven winds or when sound is traveling through air of uneven temperature. • On a warm day the air near the ground may be appreciably warmer than the air above. • Sound travels faster in warmer air, so the speed of sound near the ground is increased. • The refraction is not abrupt but gradual. • Sound waves tend to bend away from warm ground, making it appear that the sound does not carry well.
29.7Refraction of Sound When the layer of air near the ground is colder than the air above, the speed of sound near the ground is reduced. The higher speed of the wave fronts above causes a bending of the sound toward Earth. Sound can then be heard over considerably longer distances.
29.7Refraction of Sound At night, when the air is cooler over the surface of the lake, sound is refracted toward the ground and carries unusually well.
29.7Refraction of Sound think! Suppose you are downwind from a factory whistle. In which case will the whistle sound louder—if the wind speed near the ground is more than the wind speed several meters above the ground, or if it is less?