... Rough surfaces look dull as they reflect light in many different directions causing it to scatter. This is called diffuse reflection. If light waves are reflected, the colour of the surface affects the colour of the reflected ray. Concave surfaces are used to focus waves at a point to increase their strength, for example satellites collect radio waves in a dish, then focus the waves on to a point. Concave mirrors are also used at the back of car headlamps to collect any wasted light and reflect them along the headlights beam. Prisms, using total internal reflection, generally have a far higher reflectivity than mirrors hence their use on car reflectors and cats eyes for road marking. Normal: An imaginary line at a right angle to the surface. Incident ray: The ray of light from the light source to the mirror. Reflected ray: The ray of light that has been reflected off the mirror. Angle of ...

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