Diffraction of light waves reflection involves a change in direction of waves when they bounce off a barrier. refraction of waves involves a change in the direction of waves as they pass from one medium to another. diffraction involves a change in direction of waves as they pass through an opening or around an obstacle in their path. Understanding the fraction of lot is like explaining how waves have the ability to travel around obstacles just as soundwaves do. But do Lightwave have the ability to penetrate through surfaces like sound? When light encounters an obstacle in its path, the obstacle blocks the light and will cause the shadow in the shape of the object behind the obstacle.

In this sense, light does not exhibit the ability to bend around obstacles and fill in the region behind it with light as sound does. However, light does diffract around obstacles even if it is not apparent on a physical level. The clearest physical example is if you observe a shadow carefully from either a natural or artificial light source, you will notice that its edges are extremely fuzzy. Interference effects occur during this diffraction of light around the different sides of objects, causing the shadow of the object or the outline of the object to be fuzzy at its edges. To explain this more efficiently for design purposes, consider that light waves are diffracting around the edges of an object as the waves have broken up into different waves they converge at the center of the opposite side of the object. This phenomenon is the result of the different interference patterns of light waves and the way they take these patterns after striking the illuminated surface of the object.

It's not important in this course to understand how this occurs on a scientific level. What is important however, is that you can see there's some diffraction of light when considering light and shadow, especially when selecting lotting tops, materials or objects to illuminate