Final answer:
Light exhibits wave-particle duality and can be reflected or refracted. Huygens' principle and Snell's law explain the behavior of light during reflection and refraction.
Step-by-step explanation:
Light exhibits both wave-like and particle-like behavior, which is known as wave-particle duality. This means that light can behave as a wave and as a stream of particles called photons.
When light interacts with matter, it can be reflected or refracted. Reflection occurs when light bounces off a surface, following the law of reflection, which states that the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. Refraction, on the other hand, happens when light passes from one medium to another and changes direction. This can be explained by applying Huygens' principle, which states that each point on a wavefront acts as a source of secondary wavelets that propagate in all directions.
Snell's Law, also known as the law of refraction, describes the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction when light passes through a boundary between two media. It can be derived from the geometry of wave propagation.