Understanding the Principles of Light Behavior - Photographic Rendering with V-Ray for SketchUp - page 162

Learning about light - exercise two
To help visualize the angle of incidence versus the angle of reflection phenomenon a
little more clearly, you could also take a very low wattage laser pen (preferably less
than 1 milliwatt for the sake of safety) and shine it at an angle onto a mirror. The
bounce or reflection of the laser that you will see instantly demonstrates the law of
incidence angle versus reflection angle at work.
By the time the early nineteenth century came around, English physician and math-
ematician Thomas Young had come up with an experiment that seemed to prove
once and for all that light was indeed made up of wave forms and not rays or particles
as Newton had proposed. His now-famous Double Slit experiment passed mono-
chromatic light through a thin plate with two slits cut into it. That light was then cap-
tured on a screen placed behind the plate and the visual result that it produced (see
image) only really made sense if the viewer accepted that light does indeed travel as
a wave.
Note
For an overview of the setup involved in Young's experiment, take a look at
the article on the studyphysics.ca website at www.studyphysics.ca/newnotes/20/
unit04_light/chp1719_light/lesson58.htm .