Lecture 13: Global Illumination & Path Tracing (12)
colinsteidtmann
How come the light can't change frequency?
zy5476
@colinsteidtmann I think if it changes in frequency it would be distorted and not a reflection
spegeerino
@colin The reason we specify no change in frequency is because when a light enters a new medium, it changes speed based on the properties of the material, and the change in speed is accompanied by a change in frequency. Saying no change in frequency is essentially a way to say that the light never enters the other medium (a surface implies a boundary between two mediums of light), which is what we want for reflection.
Boomaa23
Does this also have to do with the wave-particle duality of light? Because here we could say that the frequency of the light does not change because we're taking the light as particles instead of waves (i.e. with frequency).
How come the light can't change frequency?
@colinsteidtmann I think if it changes in frequency it would be distorted and not a reflection
@colin The reason we specify no change in frequency is because when a light enters a new medium, it changes speed based on the properties of the material, and the change in speed is accompanied by a change in frequency. Saying no change in frequency is essentially a way to say that the light never enters the other medium (a surface implies a boundary between two mediums of light), which is what we want for reflection.
Does this also have to do with the wave-particle duality of light? Because here we could say that the frequency of the light does not change because we're taking the light as particles instead of waves (i.e. with frequency).