Question

At night when it is dark outside and you are standing in a brightly lit room it is easy to see your reflection in a window. During the day it is not easy. Explain your reason.

Answer 1

1. A translucent surface follows two properties of light one is refraction and another is reflection.
2. During the daytime, the ray of light in the room is largely refracted by the glass window outside and a tiny light is reflected in the room.
3. Similarly, for the outside sunlight, a large amount of light is refracted in the room, and a small amount of light is reflected outside.
4. So the majority of the light that is coming from the window is sunlight. There forms an image on the window but the image will be blurred due to the sunlight effect.
5. During the night, there is no light or less light that is coming from outside of the room.
6. So, the majority of light is reflected light that comes from the room.

Hence, we can see our clear reflection in the window during the night.