Surface Type
Going back to the fact that reflectivity is a directional property, most surfaces can be divided into those that give specular reflection and those that give diffuse reflection.
- For specular surfaces, such as glass or polished metal, reflectivity will be nearly zero at all angles except at the appropriate reflected angle - that is, reflected radiation will follow a different path from incident radiation for all cases other than radiation normal to the surface.
- For diffuse surfaces, such as matte white paint, reflectivity is uniform; radiation is reflected in all angles equally or near-equally. Such surfaces are said to be Lambertian.
Most real objects have some mixture of diffuse and specular reflective properties.
Read more about this topic: Reflectivity
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