Question

The ray of light which falls on a mirror is called
A. Reflected ray
B. Emergent ray
C. Incident ray
D. Transmitted ray

Answer 1

Hint: In order to answer this question, we could recall the definitions of each of the given options. This is a pretty simple question if you have a basic idea of the process of reflection and refracted. Now you could cross check the given definition with the recalled definitions of the given options and hence find the answer.

Complete step by step answer:
In the question we are given names of 4 rays and are asked to identify which among those rays represents the ray of light that falls on a mirror.
In order to answer this, let us recall the definitions of each of the given rays.
Firstly, we have the reflected ray. The ray of light that gets reflected by the reflecting surface (for e.g., a mirror) or we could say that it is the ray that is seen to bounce off a reflecting surface.
Secondly, we have the emergent ray which is defined as the ray that emerges out of a second medium back to its original medium.
Next we have the incident ray, which is defined as the ray that falls on the reflecting or refracting surface.

Then we have the transmitted ray which is the ray that is transmitted into a second medium by getting refracted.
Now that we have discussed the definitions of all of the given options, we see that it is the incident ray that falls on a mirror.

So, the correct answer is “Option C”.

Note: For the case of reflection, we have three laws. They are:
(1) The normal to the reflecting surface at the point of incidence, the incident ray and the reflected ray, all the three lie on the plane.
(2) The angle of incidence, angle made by the incident ray with the normal is equal to the angle of reflection, the angle made by the reflected ray with the normal.
(3) The incident ray and the reflected ray lie on either side of the normal.