Question

What is the application of reflection?

Answer 1

Hint:In order to solve this question we need to understand reflection. Reflection means receiving the incident light in the same medium after the incident light falls on interface or surface and bounces back. There are two types of reflection, one is regular reflection and other is non regular or diffused reflection.

Complete answer:
Regular reflection is one in which light reflects from the smooth surface so angle of incidence (angle between the normal and incident light) is equal to angle of reflection (angle between the normal and reflected light) while the diffused reflection is one in which reflection happens from a rough surface and here after incidence light reflects back in many directions. Diffused reflection is the reason why we can see so many things at once.

There are mainly applications of reflection, some are discussed below:
-Reflection is used in mirrors, especially concave mirrors in vehicles to avoid accidents on the road.
-Reflection is used in defense by radars where radars send waves which after reflection get back to radar then it can interpret technical fighter jets.
-Reflection is used in our daily life to view surroundings as stated earlier it is due to diffuse reflection.

Note:It should be remembered that reflection causes path difference between incident light and reflected light and we can use this fact in thin films as these thin films produce interference patterns which can be used to measure the thickness of thin film. Also reflection can be used in Newton’s ring experiment where we use the path difference created due to reflection to find out the radius of the ring.