the.com/reflector
A mirror's lazy cousin: it bounces light back without bothering to show you a face.
means A surface or device that bounces back light, sound, or other waves instead of absorbing or passing them through.
from Straightforward Latin ancestry: 'reflectere' means 'to bend back' — 're-' (back) plus 'flectere' (to bend). English pulled 'reflector' into use for mirrors and light-bouncing devices as optical science grew, naming the thing by exactly what it does: bends the light back toward you.
- no power needed
- Works with zero batteries, purely geometry and prisms.
- bike law staple
- Required by law on pedals and wheels in many countries.
- corner cube trick
- Returns light straight back to its exact source, any angle.
- moon has one
- Apollo astronauts left reflectors still used to measure Earth-Moon distance.