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The light can do four things: it can be absorbed by the atoms in the material it hits, it can pass through the material it hits, and it can be reflected off the material it hits. Finally, it can scatter the light sometimes when it hits an opaque object. It can also do combinations of these.

In general, light will reflect off of the surface, with the angle of incidence (measured from the line perpendicular to the surface) equal to the angle of reflection (measured from the same line).

If the material allow light to go through, light will usually also refract, that is, travel through the material but in a different direction than the direction it was going when it hit the plane surface. That direction is given by Snell's Law. However, in some cases -- when the angle of refraction is greater than 90 degrees -- no refraction is possible, and the light is only reflected.

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