If light hits a mirror and then switches direction

[seerskater]

if light hits a mirror and then switches direction...

if light hits a mirror at a 90 degree angle, wouldn't it HAVE to travel slower than the speed of light when it hit the mirror?

 

[Vanadium 50]

No. Why?

 

[HallsofIvy]

When light reflects from a mirror, it is absorbed by the mirror and re-emited. It does not "stop" and change direction.

 

[Naty1]

Perhaps you are thinking of REFRACTION when light is abosrbed in a medium??

That involves a change in phase velocity:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refraction

 

[seerskater]

When light reflects from a mirror, it is absorbed by the mirror and re-emited. It does not "stop" and change direction.

I meant more what hallsofivy guessed. That is interesting though. Would the angles of reflection the same for a solid object bouncing off a wall? it seems odd that light's angle of reflection wouldn't be jumbled around somehow while it was absorbed by the mirror.

 

[turbo]

Just a niggle, here. If light hits a conventional rear-surface silvered mirror it will travel slower than its normal speed in air when it hits the glass, until it is reflected by the silvering and re-exits the glass and re-enters air. This is not situation with a front-surface silvered mirror like those used in telescopes or the larger flat mirrors that are used to allow optometrists/ophthalmologists to test your visual acuity in small exam rooms. In such cases, the light is reflected right back into the air and does not have to traverse any glass.