- #1
jeebs
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When we fire a particle at a surface it can bounce off, with the angle of incidence being equal to the angle of reflection. It's clear why this happens - electromagnetic repulsion due to the electrons of the two things getting too close, right? What about light though? We can fire a ray of light at a surface, some of it will go past the surface into the medium, some of it will be reflected. Why is this so?
There is nothing to "repel" the photon (unless I've grossly overlooked something), so what's going on here?
Is it maybe something to do with the electrons in the atoms absorb some energy from the incoming wave, which changes its wavelength and it passes through some gap between adjacent atoms that diffracts it or changes its direction somehow? although, if this was the case, how would that explain the way that the ray's direction bends back the other way when it exits the far side of the material...
There is nothing to "repel" the photon (unless I've grossly overlooked something), so what's going on here?
Is it maybe something to do with the electrons in the atoms absorb some energy from the incoming wave, which changes its wavelength and it passes through some gap between adjacent atoms that diffracts it or changes its direction somehow? although, if this was the case, how would that explain the way that the ray's direction bends back the other way when it exits the far side of the material...