Answer:
<u>Reflection:</u>
Angle of incidence equals angle of this
Mirrors effectively operate because of this....
<u>Refraction:</u>
Explain why a straw looks broken in a glass of water
Occurs when a wave moves from one medium to another...
Most microscopes take advantage of ....
<u>Diffraction:</u>
X - ray crystallography ....
The spreading out of waves...
Explains why anyone in the classroom can hear that loud teacher...
Explanation:
Let us first differentiate reflection, refraction, and diffraction.
Reflection occurs when the waves<em> bounce off </em>the medium or the boundary that is in the way of the wave. Some part of the wave would bounce off, and the others would go through the medium through a process called transmission.
When light for example hits a smooth surface at a certain angle, the light would bounce off, creating an equal going the other way.
Best example of this behavior of light would be the mirror.
<u>Refraction </u>on the other hand, <u>bends the waves</u> as they go through one medium to another medium, or change their direction. The amount or degree of the bend would depend on the medium they go through. If the mediums are different, it would substantially change the wave's path. The reason for this is because the medium changes the speed of the waves that go through them, depending on the material they are made up of.
A classic example of this would be the straw in a glass of water.
<u>Diffraction</u> occurs when the waves <u>go through an opening of the medium </u>or barrier. If the opening is smaller than the wave that passes through it, it would spread out wider, coming out of the opening, but if it is bigger, then the spread would decrease.
In x-ray crystallography, they use this by letting x-rays pass through the spaces in between the crystals.
