2024-2025

S3 Physics
H Wave Motion
Reflection of light

Name :

School :
Objectives:
reflection of light
• state the laws of reflection
• construct images formed by a plane mirror graphically

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Wave Nature of Light

Light transmits energy, as other kinds of waves do.

For example, a piece of paper can be burned when we focus sunlight on it with a

magnifying glass; a calculator with a solar cell can be operated in the presence of light.

The wavefront model

The ray model

In the ray model, we assume that a wave, moving through a medium, travels in a

straight line in the direction of its ray.

A light ray

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Light beams and light rays
1. A light beam is a stream of light.
2. Three kinds of light beams: a parallel beam, a divergent beam and a convergent beam.
3. Light beams are made up of light rays.
4. When drawing ray diagrams to show light rays, we use a straight line to represent the
path of each light ray and an arrow to represent the direction of travel of the light.
5. The diagrams show the light beams and light rays from a ray box and the
corresponding ray diagrams:

Luminous objects and non-luminous objects

• A luminous object can emit light on its own.
Examples: the Sun, a burning candle, a lit light bulb
• A non-luminous object do not emit light on its own.
Examples: the Moon, the blackboard, ……………..etc.
Note: No matter what kind of object it is, there must be light coming from the object
and entering our eyes so that we can see it.

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Seeing non-luminous objects by reflection
1. Although non-luminous objects do not emit light on their own, we can still see them
due to reflection.
2. Light from the source is reflected by these objects and enters our eyes.

Ray diagrams
1. When we view an object, many light rays from it enter our eyes.
2. To simplify, we use two light rays to represent the cone of rays entering our eyes from
a certain point of the object.

3. The followings are the rays from near and distant objects.

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Reflection of Light
Reflection of light waves is very common. We see how reflection works in a mirror or on
the surface of a calm pool of water.

We can see because light enters our eyes. Luminous bodies produce their own light. For
example the sun, a lamp, a TV screen

Laws of Reflection

1. Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection

2. The normal, incident ray and reflected ray all lie on the same plane.

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Checkpoints:

1. In each of the following cases, complete the path of the ray. State the angle of
incidence and the angle of reflection at each reflecting surface.

(a)

(b)

(c)

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2. The diagram indicates the incident ray and the reflected rays. Find the value of x.

3. In each of the following cases, complete the path of the rays.

(a)

(b)

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4. A light ray is incident on a plane mirror as shown. The angle between the light ray
and the plane mirror is 55°.

(a) Find the angle of reflection.

(b) If the angle between the light ray and the plane mirror is increased by 5°, find
the change in the angle of reflection.

(c) If the plane mirror is rotated 5° anticlockwise, find the angle rotated by the
reflected ray.

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Regular Reflection VS Diffuse Reflection
The reflection from smooth surfaces like mirrors is called regular reflection. In this type
of reflection, the incident parallel rays are parallel on reflection.
Rays can also be reflected from relatively rough surfaces. This is called diffuse reflection.

Note: The law of reflection also applies to diffuse reflection, but the rough surface
causes the reflected in different directions.

Checkpoints:
The figure shows a nearly perfect reflection from a lake. Later when the wind blows,
the surface of the water is ruffled.

(a) What do you observe when the surface of the water is ruffled?

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 (b) Explain why such image in (a) is observed.

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(c) John says the reflection of light on a ruffled water surface does not obey the laws
of reflection. Comment on John’s explanation.

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Images formed by Plane Mirrors

mirror

mirror

O : object
I : image

(a) Position of image in a plane mirror. (b) Viewing the image of an object.

Fig.1

Position of image ___________________________________

Ÿ When rays from an object are reflected

Ÿ Behind the plane mirror by a plane mirror to our eyes, they

“seem” to originate from a point I behind
Ÿ Image distance is always equal to object distance the mirror. This point is the image of the
object.

Nature of image __________________________________

Ÿ Virtual means “not really there”. The
Ÿ Virtual reflected rays never reach the image. A
virtual image cannot be projected on a
Ÿ Upright (erect) piece of paper.

Ÿ Laterally inverted Ÿ Virtual image is always erect.

object (a toy helicopter) image is a lateral inversion of the object

Fig.2 Nature of image formed by a plane mirror.

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Magnification _____________________________________
Ÿ In general, a magnification is the ratio
The image and the object are of the same size. of the size of image to that of object.
image size
i.e., magnification =
i.e., magnification = 1 object size
image

Fig.3 Object and image are of equal size.

Checkpoints:
1. The figure shows a point object O placed in front of a plane mirror. p and q are two
rays incident on the mirror.

(a) Draw the reflected rays of p and q.

(b) Extend the reflected rays to locate the image of O.
(c) What is the relationship between the image distance and the object distance?

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2. In the figure, a boy stands at point B in front of a plane mirror. A girl stands at another
point G in front of the plane mirror.

(a) How far is the boy from the image of the girl?

(b) How far is the girl from the image of the boy?

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3. An arrow is placed in front of a plane mirror as shown in the figure. p, q and r are rays
incident on the mirror. Draw the reflected rays.

4. An object XY is placed in front of a plane mirror M and p , q and r are three

incident rays.

Draw the image of object XY and the reflected light rays of p , q and r.

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5. In the figure, PQ represents a boy 1.5 m tall standing in front of a vertical mirror
AB. The boy’s eyes are 1.4 m above the ground. He can see the image of his whole
body in the mirror.

(a) State the properties of the image formed.

(b) In Fig.6, draw accurately

(i) the image of the boy formed by the mirror.
(ii) the paths of the two rays, one from P and one from Q, to show how the rays
reach his eyes E.
(iii) Hence, find the minimum length of the mirror AB for the boy to see all of
himself.

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6. A man 170 cm tall is looking at a vertical plane mirror 1 m away. The height of the
mirror is the same as the height of the man. The eyes of the man are 12 cm below the
top of his head.

(a) Draw a light ray from the shoes of the man to his eyes by reflection of light.
(b) Draw a light ray from the head of the man to his eyes by reflection of light.
(c) What is the minimum length of the mirror for viewing the whole body of the
man?

(d) How high the mirror should be placed?

(e) If the man walks 0.5 m nearer the mirror, what will be the minimum length of
the mirror?

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Periscope
1. A periscope consists of two mirrors
2. The mirrors make an angle of 45° with the line joining them.

3. The image formed is not laterally inverted.

4. Periscopes are used in a double-deckers.

5. Periscopes are used in submarines

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Checkpoint:

A girl looks through a periscope at a doll placed on a cupboard as shown. The distance
between the two mirrors is 0.8 m. The girl’s eye is 0.2 m from the lower mirror and the
doll is 0.5 m away from the upper mirror. What is the distance between her eye and the
image formed by the periscope?

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