Types of reflections


Specular reflection

Here's an example for the specular reflection




Here's what happens to light in a specular reflection

As you can see, all the light rays go on the same direction after they reflected on the surface of water, that's why you can see the image of the tree clearly in the water, it's because the surface of the water is flat.







Diffuse reflection

Another type of reflection is the diffuse reflection. Look at the picture below, why we can't see the image of the tree on the ground?




Let's have a look at what happens to the light rays.

The surface of the ground is not flat, even though the light rays all come along in the same direction, but after reflected on the ground, their directions are no longer the same. That's why we cannot see the image of tree on the ground, and this is called diffuse reflection.


Warning: Both specular and diffuse reflections follow the law of reflection --INCIDENT ANGLE = REFLECTED ANGLE.
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