Laws Of Reflection

If the reflecting surface is very smooth, the reflection of light that occurs is called specular or
regular reflection. The laws of reflection are as follows:

• The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal to the reflection surface at the point of  the   incidence lie in the same plane.
• The angle which the incident ray makes with the normal is equal to the angle which the reflected ray makes to the same normal.

Here are descriptions for the terms in this diagram:

• The ray of light which strikes the surface is called the incident ray.
• The ray of light which leaves the surface is called the reflected ray.
• A line perpendicular to the surface is imagined at the point of reflection. This line is called a normal. In this context the word normal means perpendicular. In the above diagram the normal is colored blue.
• The angle between the incident ray and the normal is called the angle of incidence, or the incident angle.
•  The angle between the reflected ray and the normal is called the angle of reflection, or the reflected angle.