what makes a good reflector of light?

Answer 1

mirror

Answer 2

Good conductors of electricity, aluminum, silver, gold are also good reflectors of light. These metals are good conductors because in solid form they have at least one electron per atom which is easily freed up to move around. It is this same property that makes something a good reflector of light. A light wave will intreatct with this free electron and 'bounce' off it. Mirrors are made by depsiting a think layer of aluminum or silver on the back of a piece of glass.

Answer 3

Polished metal is a very good reflector, but there is another, surprising answer: bubbles.

Imagine a bubble in water. The index of refraction of water is 1.33, and air is 1.00001 or so. The surface of the bubble is curved, of course; and the light rays, traveling from water to air, are refracted away from each other. As you move a light ray from the centre of the bubble toward the edge, you eventually pass the critical angle, where the refracted light ray is bent 90° from the surface normal. Beyond that, there is total internal (or external, depending on your viewpoint) reflection and the bubble appears to be a perfect curved mirror.

You can explore this using free software called POV-Ray, the Persistence of Vision Raytracer, available from http://www.povray.org/ . It's an optical simulator that uses math to replicate the behaviour of light. A spherical bubble in water could be coded like this:

sphere {
<0,0,0>, 1 // located at coordinate <0,0,0>, radius 1
pigment { rgbf 1 } // transparent
interior { ior 1/1.33 } // behaving like an air bubble compared to surrounding water
}

Answer 4

Pure silver is the most reflective substance you could ever hope for. Polished silver mirrors are often used in experiments.

Answer 5

A thing called a mirror is usually regarded as being the most reflective thing

Answer 6

Anything with a high albedo.

Answer 7

Anything shiny

Answer 8

Glass
Polished metals also have high lustre