Definition of Reflection and Examples in everyday life
One characteristic of waves is experiencing reflection. Seawater waves propagate in the sea when they hit a rock then the wave reverse, so does the water wave in the water bath when it encounters a wall, the water wave reverses towards the direction it came from.
Examples of reflection experienced by sound waves are echoes and echoes. Reverberation occurs when sound is reflected while the sound source is still sounding. Usually, the echo occurs in an enclosed space. While the echo occurs when the sound is reflected after the sound source does not sound. Echo typically occurs outdoors and is not disturbing, but reverberation is frequently annoying because, for example, when someone is talking in a closed room, the reflection of the person’s voice off the walls causes the person’s speech to become blurred. To overcome this, often, on the walls of closed spaces such as auditoriums or music studios, air vibration dampers are installed that transmit sound so that sound is not reflected.
Waves that propagate on ropes, strings, or strings also experience reflection. For example, a wave on a guitar string that is played by a guitarist, after propagating along the strings, will be reflected when it arrives at the knot.
When propagating, waves carry energy so that if the waves are reflected after meeting an obstacle, some energy is passed on to the barrier and some are reflected. When a sound wave hits a wall, some sound energy is absorbed by the wall and some are reflected. Likewise, when a sea wave hits a rock or ship, some energy is transferred to the rock or ship hit by the wave, and some are reflected.
The Law of Reflection
Before understanding the law of reflection, first, learn the meaning of Rays and Wavefront. When drawing two or three-dimensional waves, the concept of wavefront is used. Waves that propagate on a rope or string are one-dimensional waves, waves that propagate on the surface of the water are two-dimensional waves, and waves that propagate in space such as sound waves are three-dimensional waves.
Wavefront represents two- or three-dimensional waves that propagate, while Rays are lines that are perpendicular to the wavefront.
The Law of Reflection states that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection, as illustrated in the image below. The angle of incidence = the angle between the incident ray and the dotted line perpendicular to the reflecting surface. The angle of reflection = the angle between the reflected ray and the dotted line perpendicular to the reflecting surface.