Three situations may arise when a light wave travelling from an optical medium to another optical medium strikes the second medium. They are as follows:
1. The light ray may bounce off of the medium to which it was travelling with a change in angle.This phenomenon is also known as reflection of light.
2. The light ray may pass through the second medium with a deviation in its angle of incidence. This is also known as refraction of light.
3. The ray may be absorbed by the second medium.
If a light wave does not bounce off of an object then either 1. or 2. may happen. That light ray enter the second medium, or it may be absorbed by that medium.
You seem to be talking about a light wave. If you increase the amplitude the light gets brighter, and if you decrease it gets dimmer. Amplitude has no effect on colour.
Reflection is the change in the direction of propagation of a wave that strikes a boundary between different media through which it cannot pass. When a wave strikes such a boundary it bounces back, or is reflected, just as a ball bounces off the floor. The angle of incidence is the angle between the path of the wave and a line perpendicular to the boundary. The angle of reflection is the angle between the same line and the path of the reflected wave. All reflected waves obey the law of reflection, which states that the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. The reflectivity of a material is the fraction of energy of the oncoming wave that is reflected by it.
If you think of light as made up of small, elastic particles, then when they hit a hard surface, they will bounce off and travel in another direction. This is analogous to a basketball bouncing off a floor. However, the particle nature of light has been disproven. A more accurate description lies in the wave or particle-wave duality nature of light.
Frequency or wave length.The relation between frequency f and wave length lof a light waveis given by; f = c/l, where c is light's speed.
Just ONE property, the wavelength of the light. The colour of visible light depends on its wavelength. These wavelengths range from 700 nm at the red end of the spectrum to 400 nm at the violet end.
The light wave could be absorbed by the object, in which case its energy is converted to heat. The light wave could be reflected by the object. And the light wave could be transmitted by the object. ...
It cause a reflection(:
[object Object]
A mechanical wave travels through a medium because a medium is necessary for the propagation of that wave. With a mechanical wave, like sound, mechanical energy is put intothe wave, and the medium carries the energy of the wave. This is in contrast to an electromagnetic wave (like light) which can move through a total vacuum.
Light rays may be thought of as ripples or waves. If you have ever seen the waves in a pond bounce off an object in the pond or the shore line, that is a suitable analogy for the reflection of light rays. Some waves are big and some are small, some waves are closer together and some are further apart. When a wave approaches and impinges on a surface, we refer to that as the "incident wave" (or incident radiation). The properties of the wave (how close, how big) and the properties of the reflecting surface, will dictate how efficiently the wave can bounce off the surface.
Light is an electromagnetic wave and as with all waves when they hit a smooth reflective surface such as a mirror they reflect which means they bounce off at 90 degrees. Light = incident ray Light reflected = reflective ray
Basically three things can happen to light as it strikes an object. It can be reflected, absorbed, or it can pass through. For simplicity, assume the object is not transparent; in that case, any light that is not reflected is absorbed.
refraction
When a light wave hits an object, what happens to it depends on the energy of the light wave. The waves can be reflected or scattered off the object; waves can be absorbed by the object; waves can be refracted through the object; waves can pass through the object with no effect.
Diffraction example: you run or bounce into somthing and, the wave goes around the object. This is called diffraction.
The denser an object is, the slower a wave will travel through it because the wave will interact (collide!) with more molecules. Each collision will serve to slow down the wave of light. Therefore, the wavelength will increase, becoming longer.
diffraction is the answer