The
Law of Reflection
A GIF Animation
When a ray of light strikes a plane mirror, the light ray
reflects off the mirror. Reflection involves a change in direction of
the light ray. The convention used to express the direction of a
light ray is to indicate the angle which the light ray makes with a
normal drawn to the surface of the mirror. The angle of incidence is
the angle between this normal and the incident ray; the angle of
reflection is the angle between this normal and the reflected ray.
According to the law of reflection, the angle of incidence equals the
angle of reflection. These concepts are illustrated in the animation
at the right.
For more information on the ray nature of light, visit
The
Physics Classroom. Specific information is available there on the
following topics:
This page was created by
Tom
Henderson of
Glenbrook South
High School.
Comments and suggestions can be sent by e-mail to
Tom
Henderson.
This page last updated on 8/17/98.