When an incident light passes from one medium to another, it will change the direction and speed. “File:Diffraction-red laser-diffraction grating PNr☀126.jpg” by D-Kuru is licensed under Frequently Asked Questions What is refraction? For example, if we yell inside a room, the wall will stop the reflection, but the sound will stay within the walls. This is because the light is reflected back into the medium but at a different angle to that of the incident angle.īut in Diffraction, the light ray will enter another medium will, refract, and will bend around the corner of the medium. When the rarer medium is regarded to be air and the denser medium is water or oil, the light passing from another will face a change in the direction and a change in the speed too.įor example, when a ray of light is incident on a mirror, it will reflect back the exact image of the light in return. The reason is that the denser medium will have a different refractive index than the rarer medium. When light enters from a rarer medium to a denser medium, there will be a slight change in the speed of light along with a significant change in direction. In this case, it comes out as a sound too. If the target surface is smooth and glassy, the incident light will instantly bounce back into the same medium.ĭiffraction does not depend on the medium directly but is connected with the refraction, where the light bends around the corner of the target object. Reflection of incident light mainly depends on the property of the target. Reflection Reflection vs Diffraction in terms of medium When velocity is concerned, both reflection and Diffraction will face no change with speed but with direction. The reason is that the speed is constant throughout the process irrespective of the source of the incident light and the target being considered.

Hence both in reflection and in Diffraction, the speed remains unchanged, but the direction changes at different angles each. Since velocity is regarded as the vector quantity, it holds both the magnitude and the direction components, where speed is considered to be the magnitude component of it. The incident light is hitting at a different angle on the target, so the end result is also at a different angle. But the direction component is changed due to the different angles at which the light has been incident on.ĭiffraction has specific quantities which will remain unchanged, but speed is sometimes altered accordingly, which appears to be but, in reality, does not. In reflection, the velocity of the incident light particle or wave is constant because the speed remains unchanged. Reflection vs Diffraction in terms of velocity One main difference is, in reflection, the incident light can act as both particle and wave, but in Diffraction, the incident light must be a wave. Here the factors like frequency amplitude will remain the same when sound is considered. In reflection, the incident light hitting the target will either bounce back to the same medium or enter another medium depending upon the type of the medium.īut in Diffraction, the light beam will pass through the medium in and out and will also accompany sound with the passage. Say when a light beam or a ray passes through a medium, the properties will be affected. The one main difference between reflection vs Diffraction is that one deals majorly with light and the other with sound, although having light in it.

Reflection vs Diffraction in terms of incident light.

Reflection vs Diffraction in terms of medium.

Reflection vs Diffraction in terms of velocity.

On the basis of the comparison we shall discuss the three of the few factors that helps to different reflection and diffraction:

The bending of light in the corner is termed Diffraction Reflection is concerned with the incident light bouncing back into the same medium Diffraction is concerned with sound and light traveling from one medium to another In reflection, light can be a particle or a wave In Diffraction, the light has to be a wave REFLECTION DIFFRACTION The bouncing of light is termed as a reflection Reflection deals with the light wave and Diffraction deals with light and sound. Reflection vs diffraction is one of the standard search terms.

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