Question

Statement 1:
Laws of reflection can be derived using Fermat's principle.

Statement 2:
Fermat's principle can be derived using Laws of reflection.

Choose the correct option.

• A. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 are correct.
• B. Both Statement 1 and Statement 2 are wrong.
• C. Only Statement 1 is correct.
• D. Only Statement 2 is correct.

Answer 1

The correct option is C Only Statement 1 is correct.

Fermat's principle states that light takes the path which takes the shortest time to travel. According to laws of reflection, incident ray, reflected ray and the normal all lie on the same plane. Also, the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
Fermat's principle is the basic principle that explains a lot of behavior shown by light rays. It can be used to explain the laws of reflection. However, laws of reflection are not self sufficient to prove the Fermat's principle.