Deflection (physics)

<h2 id="deflective-efficiency">Deflective efficiency</h2>
<p class="note">See also: <a href="/facts/Shock_(mechanics)/AjThlASN">shock (mechanics)</a>, <a href="/facts/Perfect_mirror/PFePUT62">perfect mirror</a>, and <a href="/facts/Absorption_(electromagnetic_radiation)/xBYKt7yS">absorption (electromagnetic radiation)</a></p>
<p>An object's deflective efficiency can never equal or surpass 100%, for example:
</p>
<ul><li>a mirror will never <a href="/facts/Reflection_(physics)/BhcjDs79">reflect</a> exactly the same amount of light cast upon it, though it may concentrate the light which is reflected <a href="/facts/Concave_mirror/X1c0aVmK">into a narrower beam</a>.</li>
<li>on hitting the ground, a ball previously in <a href="/facts/Free_fall/os0d9qkt">free-fall</a> (meaning no force other than <a href="/facts/Gravity/bqAN7DdQ">gravity</a> acted upon it) will never bounce back up to the place where it first started to descend.</li></ul>
<p>This transfer of some energy into heat or other radiation is a consequence of the theory of <a href="/facts/Thermodynamics/q4hIx3yP">thermodynamics</a>, where, for every such interaction, some energy must be converted into alternative forms of energy or is absorbed by the deformation of the objects involved in the collision.
</p>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Electrostatic_deflection/SBufpH3U">Electrostatic deflection</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Coriolis_effect/SqCyUY6d">Coriolis effect</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Deflection_yoke/7Wtg97Tr">Deflection yoke</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Impulse_(physics)/maePm9Ua">Impulse</a></li>
<li><a href="/facts/Reflection_(physics)/BhcjDs79">Reflection</a></li></ul>

Deflection (physics) open-in-new

Deflection (physics)