Predict How Light Will Reflect

The law of reflection - what is it all about?

The law of reflection tells us that when light hits a surface, it will be reflected at an angle equal to the incident ray.

Take a look at this diagram below:

This law is true of all surfaces, even rough or bumpy ones, but the reason rough and bumpy surfaces do not reflect light well is because all of the different angles of incidence and reflection get mixed up and it makes a much weaker reflected ray.

So, key things to remember in this activity:

The incident ray is the light ray that hits the surface, which is where the normal line comes from.

The angle of incidence is between the incident ray and the normal line.

The reflected ray bounces off a surface and also creates an angle of reflection between the normal line and the reflected ray.

The reflected angle and incident angle will always be equal - the same as each other.

Let's use all of this to help us today and make predictions about different experiments!