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Figure a is a drawing of a  girl standing in front of a mirror and looking at her image. The mirror is about half as tall as the girl, with the top of the mirror above her eyes but below the top of her head.  The light rays from her feet reach the bottom of the mirror and reflect to her eyes following the law of reflection: the angle of incidence theta is equal to the angle of reflection theta. The rays from the top of her head reach the top of the mirror and reflect to her eyes. Figure b is a drawing of the same girl looking at her twin. The twin is facing her and is at the same location, relative to her, that her image is in figure a. The rays from the twin’s feet and head travel directly to the girl’s eyes, reaching them in the same direction as the reflected rays in figure a.
(a) Your image in a mirror is behind the mirror. The two rays shown are those that strike the mirror at just the correct angles to be reflected into the eyes of the person. The image appears to be behind the mirror at the same distance away as (b) if you were looking at your twin directly, with no mirror.

Corner reflectors (retroreflectors)

A light ray that strikes an object consisting of two mutually perpendicular reflecting surfaces is reflected back exactly parallel to the direction from which it came ( [link] ). This is true whenever the reflecting surfaces are perpendicular, and it is independent of the angle of incidence. (For proof, see [link] at the end of this section.) Such an object is called a corner reflector    , since the light bounces from its inside corner. Corner reflectors are a subclass of retroreflectors, which all reflect rays back in the directions from which they came. Although the geometry of the proof is much more complex, corner reflectors can also be built with three mutually perpendicular reflecting surfaces and are useful in three-dimensional applications.

Two mirrors meet each other at a right angle. An incoming ray of light is reflected by one mirror and then the other, such that the outgoing ray is parallel to the incoming ray.
A light ray that strikes two mutually perpendicular reflecting surfaces is reflected back exactly parallel to the direction from which it came.

Many inexpensive reflector buttons on bicycles, cars, and warning signs have corner reflectors designed to return light in the direction from which it originated. Rather than simply reflecting light over a wide angle, retroreflection ensures high visibility if the observer and the light source are located together, such as a car’s driver and headlights. The Apollo astronauts placed a true corner reflector on the Moon ( [link] ). Laser signals from Earth can be bounced from that corner reflector to measure the gradually increasing distance to the Moon of a few centimeters per year.

Figure a is a photograph of an astronaut placing a corner reflector on the moon. Figure b is a photograph of two bicycle safety reflectors.
(a) Astronauts placed a corner reflector on the Moon to measure its gradually increasing orbital distance. (b) The bright spots on these bicycle safety reflectors are reflections of the flash of the camera that took this picture on a dark night. (credit a: modification of work by NASA; credit b: modification of work by “Julo”/Wikimedia Commons)

Working on the same principle as these optical reflectors, corner reflectors are routinely used as radar reflectors ( [link] ) for radio-frequency applications. Under most circumstances, small boats made of fiberglass or wood do not strongly reflect radio waves emitted by radar systems. To make these boats visible to radar (to avoid collisions, for example), radar reflectors are attached to boats, usually in high places.

A photograph of a radar reflector on the rigging of a sailboat.
A radar reflector hoisted on a sailboat is a type of corner reflector. (credit: Tim Sheerman-Chase)

As a counterexample, if you are interested in building a stealth airplane, radar reflections should be minimized to evade detection. One of the design considerations would then be to avoid building 90 ° corners into the airframe.

Summary

  • When a light ray strikes a smooth surface, the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence.
  • A mirror has a smooth surface and reflects light at specific angles.
  • Light is diffused when it reflects from a rough surface.

Conceptual questions

Using the law of reflection, explain how powder takes the shine off of a person’s nose. What is the name of the optical effect?

Powder consists of many small particles with randomly oriented surfaces. This leads to diffuse reflection, reducing shine.

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Problems

Suppose a man stands in front of a mirror as shown below. His eyes are 1.65 m above the floor and the top of his head is 0.13 m higher. Find the height above the floor of the top and bottom of the smallest mirror in which he can see both the top of his head and his feet. How is this distance related to the man’s height?

The figure is a drawing of a man standing in front of a mirror and looking at his image. The mirror is about half as tall as the man, with the top of the mirror above his eyes but below the top of his head.  The light rays from his feet reach the bottom of the mirror and reflect to his eyes. The rays from the top of his head reach the top of the mirror and reflect to his eyes.
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Show that when light reflects from two mirrors that meet each other at a right angle, the outgoing ray is parallel to the incoming ray, as illustrated below.

Two mirrors meet each other at a right angle. An incoming ray of light hits one mrror at an agle of theta one to the normal, is reflected at the same angle of theta one on the other side of the normal, then hits the other mirror at an angle of theta two to the normal and reflects at the same angle of theta two on the other side of the normal, such that the outgoing ray is parallel to the incoming ray.

proof

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On the Moon’s surface, lunar astronauts placed a corner reflector, off which a laser beam is periodically reflected. The distance to the Moon is calculated from the round-trip time. What percent correction is needed to account for the delay in time due to the slowing of light in Earth’s atmosphere? Assume the distance to the Moon is precisely 3.84 × 10 8 m and Earth’s atmosphere (which varies in density with altitude) is equivalent to a layer 30.0 km thick with a constant index of refraction n = 1.000293 .

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A flat mirror is neither converging nor diverging. To prove this, consider two rays originating from the same point and diverging at an angle θ (see below). Show that after striking a plane mirror, the angle between their directions remains θ .

Light rays diverging from a point at an angle theta are incident on a mirror at two different places and their reflected rays diverge.  One ray hits at an angle theta one from the normal, and reflects at the same angle theta one on the other side of the normal. The other ray hits at a larger angle theta two from the normal, and reflects at the same angle theta two on the other side of the normal. When the reflected rays are extended backwards from their points of reflection, they meet at a point behind the mirror, at the same angle theta with which they left the source.

proof

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Practice Key Terms 2

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Source:  OpenStax, University physics volume 3. OpenStax CNX. Nov 04, 2016 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col12067/1.4
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