Question

A light beam passes through the air and strikes the surface of a plastic block. Which pair of statements correctly describes the phase changes for the reflected wave and the transmitted wave?

	Reflected wave	Transmitted wave
(A)	90°	90°
(B)	No phase change	180°
(C)	No phase change	No phase change
(D)	180°	180°
(E)	180°	No phase change

Answer 1

The correct option is: (E)

Explanation:

The transmitted wave never has a phase change, but hitting the more dense block causes the reflection to flip 180 degrees.