A light ray interacts with the matter around in several ways. Which of the following are the correct observations?
A ray of light interacts with the world around in several ways. And the beautiful thing to notice here is that no interaction is random, i.e. whenever a light ray interacts with the matter, the interaction takes place according to certain laws, a pattern is observed in every behavior of light rays. Our aim in this chapter is to develop and understand those laws and hence predict the behavior of a light ray in any given condition.
A few interactions are :
1. Reflection: A light ray after striking at a surfaces, bounces off in such a way that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of bouncing-off (reflection), measured from the normal at the point of incidence. Also, the incident ray, reflected ray and the normal at the point of incident, they all lie in the same plane.
2. Refraction: A light ray after striking at certain surfaces passes through them. And thus they change their medium of travelling. It is observed that the ray bends in such a situation. This bending is known as Refraction.
3. Absorption: A light ray on striking at some surface gets absorbed by it and hence can't pass through.
Also, in one single medium a light ray always follows the rectilinear propagation property.
There are few other types of interactions that we will learn as we proceed with our course !!