... this law, but the overall effect of the jagged surface is to scatter the light diffusely. The reflected waves head off in all directions, e.g. sunlight on a piece of paper. Smooth surfaces These act as mirrors. The rays are reflected uniformly and can form images. They can: 1. be focused to a point e.g. sunlight off a concave mirror telescope 2. appear to come from a point behind the mirror e.g. a looking glass REFRACTION If a surface is transparentto waves, some or most of the waves hitting the surface will pass through. The rest get internally reflected. The speed of waves usually changes when they cross a boundary. This also changes their direction. (Imagine a car driving off a smooth, hard road into a muddy field.) The bending follows a regular pattern known as Snell's Law. Most syllabuses don't test this in detail, but check in case yours does. In refraction, the bigger the change in ...

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