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JR Wakefield
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Simple question. Are photons reflected as is from a surface like a mirror, or is the reflecting surface atoms capturing the photons and re-emitting them?
Certainly not capturing and re-emitting in the sense of electrons changing energy levels. In that process, the new direction would be random.JR Wakefield said:Simple question. Are photons reflected as is from a surface like a mirror, or is the reflecting surface atoms capturing the photons and re-emitting them?
There are surfaces called diffraction gratings. They can cause photons to reflect at an angle different from the angle of incidence. They are used to show that reflection is not an interaction of a photon with a single atom, but with the entire surface. The photon doesn’t just take one path and interact with the one atom at the apex of that one path. The photon takes all of the possible paths and interacts with all of the atoms in a way that cannot be identified with any single atom of the diffraction grating.JR Wakefield said:Are photons reflected as is from a surface like a mirror, or is the reflecting surface atoms capturing the photons and re-emitting them?
But how can we know that this is the same mechanism as reflection from a mirror?Dale said:There are surfaces called diffraction gratings. They can cause photons to reflect at an angle different from the angle of incidence. They are used to show that reflection is not an interaction of a photon with a single atom, but with the entire surface. The photon doesn’t just take one path and interact with the one atom at the apex of that one path. The photon takes all of the possible paths and interacts with all of the atoms in a way that cannot be identified with any single atom of the diffraction grating.
A diffraction grating is just a mirror with blacked out stripes. The same laws of QED that describe the behavior of a diffraction grating also describe the behavior of a mirror without the black stripes.haruspex said:But how can we know that this is the same mechanism as reflection from a mirror?
Ok.Dale said:A diffraction grating is just a mirror with blacked out stripes.
JR Wakefield said:Simple question. Are photons reflected as is from a surface like a mirror, or is the reflecting surface atoms capturing the photons and re-emitting them?
Or a mirror with a “sawtooth” profile.Dale said:A diffraction grating is just a mirror with blacked out stripes.
Are you referring to the mirage produced by the thermal gradient of the air?JR Wakefield said:the road reflection off the asphalt at very low angles
JR Wakefield said:Thanks to all for replying. I already knew the answer. But simple things like your reflection in a window, or the road reflection off the asphalt at very low angles, and even prisms, shows photons bounce off surfaces.
Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye. When it comes into contact with an object, some of the light is absorbed while the rest is reflected.
The law of reflection states that the angle of incidence (the angle at which light hits a surface) is equal to the angle of reflection (the angle at which light bounces off the surface).
The amount of light that is reflected depends on a few factors, including the angle of incidence, the properties of the surface (such as its texture and color), and the wavelength of the light.
The color of an object is determined by the wavelengths of light that it reflects. For example, a red object absorbs all colors of light except for red, which it reflects back to our eyes. This is why the object appears red to us.
When light is reflected off of a smooth surface, it creates a clear and distinct reflection. This is because the light rays bounce off the surface at the same angle, resulting in a clear image. This is also known as specular reflection.