: If white objects reflect all forms of light, how come they don’t act as mirrors?
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White objects reflect all wavelengths but not all light. They are just as reflective as red objects, its just that they reflect all wavelengths, not just one.
It’s because they don’t reflect the light straight back. They scatter it in all directions, which is also why they look white from multiple angles, and not just the angle of reflection in relation to the light.
They’re not necessarily smooth, meaning instead of just reflecting light back at a single angle, which would lead to an actual image being reflected, they just scatter it every which way.
There are two things at play. The first is “do you reflect all the light”, the second is “what direction do you reflect in”. A mirror reflects the light coming in in the same direction, so you can see an image. A white surface reflects light in lots of different directions, so you don’t get a sharp image. Think about flattening out a disco ball. If you make the little mirrors point in slightly different directions, you won’t get a clean picture, but instead will get lots of little pictures all jumbled together. As you make those mirrors tiny, the jumbled images become so small you can’t make them out any more and just get a white surface.
There are two main types of light reflection. Direct reflection and diffuse reflection.
Direct reflection is what a mirror does. Light reflects off the surface at the opposite angle from which it came (angle of incidence equals angle of reflection). Thus, we can see an image when we look at a mirror.
A white surface (like paper) has the property of diffuse reflection. It reflects the light in all directions, pretty much equally. The result of this is a ‘normal’ looking object, not a mirror.
White objects reflect all wavelengths but not all light. They are just as reflective as red objects, its just that they reflect all wavelengths, not just one.
White objects reflect all wavelengths but not all light. They are just as reflective as red objects, its just that they reflect all wavelengths, not just one.
It depends on the surface condition of the object. A well polished material will act as a mirror regardless of the color it is. A rough and ragged material will scatter light no matter what color it is.
It’s because they don’t reflect the light straight back. They scatter it in all directions, which is also why they look white from multiple angles, and not just the angle of reflection in relation to the light.
They’re not necessarily smooth, meaning instead of just reflecting light back at a single angle, which would lead to an actual image being reflected, they just scatter it every which way.
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