Reflectivity - Surface Type

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

Famous quotes containing the words surface and/or type:

    “Nature centres into balls,
    And her proud ephemerals,
    Fast to surface and outside,
    Scan the profile of the sphere;
    Knew they what that signified,
    A new genesis were here.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “People forget that it is the eye that makes the horizon, and the rounding mind’s eye which makes this or that man a type or representative of humanity with the name of hero or saint.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)