Reflection- when a wave
hits a barrier that it cannot
pass through is is reflected
Transmission- When a
wave passes a boundary
between two media some
of it will go through, so
will be transmitted
For a plane wave, the angle
of incidence (angle between
the normal to the barrier and
the rays of the incoming
wave) is equal to the angle of
reflection (angle between the
normal and the rays of the
reflected wave)
Normally as a
wave passes a
boundary, some of
it reflects and
some of it is
transmitted
4.5.2
Snell's Law
"the ratio of the since of the angle of
incidence to the since of the agle of
reflection is equal to the ratio of the
velocities in the different media"
The ratio between the sine of the
angles is called the refractive index.
The larer the refractive index, the more
the boundary refracts the light
4.5.3
Diffraction- If a wave is
passingthrough a slit about the
size of its wavelength, it will
seem to be re-emitted from a
point source
Example: Light passing
through a slit of about
500nm is will spread out,
causing a single line if
collected on for example
a piece of paper
4.5.5
Constructive interference-
When two waves with a
phase difference of a whole
wavelength meet they will
interfere and create a wave
with increased amplitude
Destructive interferece-
When two waves with a
phase difference other than
a whole wavelength meet
they will interfere to
produce a wave of
decreased amplitude