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- When light waves traveling through one
- medium into another bounce back into the
- first medium at the interface between the two,
- these light waves are said to be reflected. The
- angle at which they are reflected depends on the
- angle of incidence. These angles are measured
- from a line normal, or perpendicular, to the
- interface. For a plane mirror, the following
- equation holds:
-
-
-
-
- or the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence.
- Two kinds of images are possible in any type of
- reflection. If the image appears to be at the position to
- which the light was actually reflected, the image is a
- real image. If the image appears to be at a different
- position from where the light was reflected, the image
- is a virtual image.
- For example, a child looking in a plane mirror sees her face reflected. Although
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