Answer #1

Reflection and refraction are common wave phenomena. The former is different from the latter in a manner that reflection is known as the return, bouncing back, or change in the direction of the waves as it hit a shiny or smooth object. Refraction is known, on the other hand, as the bending of the waves when it passes through a transparent object. Waves that are commonly reflected or refracted are sound, heat, and light.

A clear example of reflection is when we look at the mirror. When the light bounces back from the smooth surface of the mirror, it reflects. This explains the reason behind the images that we see in the mirror. And, a popular example of refraction experiment is by placing a pencil inside a half-full glass of clear water. As can be observed from the testing, the pencil inside the glass of water appears to be bended at the point where the pencil and water interacts with each other. In actuality, the light wave diagonally passes through the glass of water creating a bending image of the pencil thus explaining refraction.

When a wave reflects, it normally follows the same angle from its starting point or known as its angle of incidence. If a light is beamed in a 30° angle, it will always reflect at exactly 30° opposite the direction where it came from or known as the angle of reflection.

In the aspect of refraction, Light (or any wave) refracts in any material it passes through. When we say refract, it means that the speed of light slows down as it travels from different substances. The process is called as the refractive index. During refraction, the light does not adjust or shift its density. However, the speed of light is altered thus resulting to a change in wavelength which can either be stretched out or packed.

Answered By: khristine [216 ]