Mirror vs. white paper. Both reflects?

Question

This is a really stupid question, I can feel it, and the answer seems really obvious, but I just can't seem to find a proper answer.
White paper reflects light, which is why it's white. But a mirror does the same, doesn't it? So why can't you see yourself in a white paper?

Answer 1

The type of reflection from paper is called diffuse. The type of reflection from a mirror is called specular. Diffuse reflection means the light is sent out in many different directions after hitting a surface, usually because the surface is rough. Specular reflections means the light is sent out in only one direction, the angle equal to the angle it hit the surface. The information from your face is scrambled by the diffuse reflection but preserved by the specular reflection.

Answer 2

The thing about mirrors (and glass, and things that have mirror finishes), is that they may have bumps on them, but they are, on average, much, much larger than a typical wavelength of light.

This means that the light which is reflected from them is reflected such that the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence for the vast majority of the rays striking the reflector. If you look at a spot on the mirror, you can tell where the light hitting your eye has come from. This means that light coming from objects (and which is then reflected in the surface) which are well separated is obviously _from_different_objects. This is called "specular reflection".



For reflectors like paper (or snow), the surfaces are rough on many scales, especially on scales comparable with a few wavelengths of light. A ray which strikes such a surface can penetrate to a range of depths, and can come out at almost any angle (e.g. snow in the sunlight looks bright even when the sun is directly behind one's head). When you look at a patch of snow or paper, you can't tell from which object the light was originally omitted, and thus can't resolve much of anything. This is called "diffuse reflection".

Answer 3

i think of you're thoroughly surprising! White potential this is reflecting each and every thing yet from all instructions. Clouds or the top of a lager are white with the aid of fact they encompass tiny droplets/bubbles, which mirror gentle at random instructions, so all of it gets mixed up and seems white. Gold is the colour this is with the aid of fact it reflects the crimson and infra-crimson part of the spectrum notably much completely (this is why this is used as a warmth look after). And broken glass is white. And the centre part of an ice-cube is white. All with the aid of fact it reflects each and every thing from throughout and returned returned...

Answer 4

Paper is not smooth at all. White paper is a tangle of tiny bleached wood fibers, so light scatters randomly from its surface in all directions. You see no reflection.



The surface of a mirror is almost perfectly uniformly silver-gray and smooth. So light reflects uniformly from its surface, and you see almost a pure reflection.

Answer 5

Specular versus diffuse reflection. Google it.