How Does Huygens Principle Explain Reflection?

Reflection: Huygens's principle applied to a straight wavefront striking a mirror. The wavelets shown were emitted as each point on the wavefront struck the mirror. The tangent to these wavelets shows that the new wavefront has been reflected at an angle equal to the incident angle.

How did Huygens explain reflection?

Reflection, according to Huygens, could also be explained through the concept of wavelets. ... Instead, when the wavelets impact the surface of the second medium, they are reflected according to their arrival angles, but with each wave turned back to front, producing a reversed image.

What does Huygens principle explain?

Huygens' principle states that every point on a wave front may be considered as a source of secondary waves. The word interference is used to describe the superposition of two waves, whereas diffraction is interference produced by several waves.