📘 Reflection and Light Rays

🔄 Reflection

Reflection is the process where light bounces off a surface. When light strikes a smooth and shiny surface like a mirror, it reflects in a predictable way.

📦 Ray Box

A ray box is a scientific instrument that emits narrow beams of light. It is commonly used in physics experiments to demonstrate how light travels and interacts with surfaces.

➡️ Ray

A ray is a straight line representing the path of light. Rays are used in diagrams to show the direction in which light travels.

🔴 Laser

A laser produces a very narrow and focused beam of light. It is useful in optics experiments because it shows the straight-line path of light very clearly.

🔦 Incident Ray

The incident ray is the incoming ray of light that strikes a surface, such as a mirror.

💡 Reflected Ray

The reflected ray is the ray of light that bounces off the surface after striking it.

📐 Angle of Incidence

The angle of incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the normal (an imaginary line perpendicular to the surface).

📐 Angle of Reflection

The angle of reflection is the angle between the reflected ray and the normal.

🧍 Normal

The normal is an imaginary line drawn perpendicular (at 90°) to the surface where the light ray hits. It helps in measuring angles of incidence and reflection.

🖊️ Ray Diagram

A ray diagram is a drawing that uses rays and angles to show how light travels and how it reflects off surfaces.

🪞 Plane Mirror

A plane mirror is a flat mirror that reflects light to form an image. It follows the laws of reflection precisely.

🖼️ Image

An image is the visual representation formed when light rays either meet or appear to meet after reflection or refraction.

🔁 Laterally Inversed

An image formed by a plane mirror is said to be laterally inverted, meaning the left and right sides are reversed. For example, if you raise your right hand, your image appears to raise its left.

🎥 Real Image

A real image is formed when light rays actually converge (meet) at a point. It can be projected onto a screen and is usually inverted (upside down).Example: The image formed by a projector or camera lens.

🪞 Virtual Image

A virtual image is formed when light rays appear to diverge from a point behind the mirror. The rays do not actually meet, so this image cannot be projected onto a screen. It is always upright.Example: The image of your face in a flat mirror.

🧠 Law of Reflection

The angle of incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection. This law applies to all smooth reflective surfaces like plane mirrors.