What does the reflected ray describe?

The reflected ray describes a ray that travels back from the object after hitting a surface. When light encounters a reflective surface, it follows the law of reflection, which states that the angle of incidence (the angle at which the incoming ray strikes the surface) is equal to the angle of reflection (the angle at which the outgoing ray leaves the surface).

In this context, when you visualize an object, the light rays emanating from it hit a surface such as a mirror. The rays that bounce off the mirror and return to the viewer's eye represent the reflected rays. This principle is essential in understanding how we see objects, as our perception is based on the light that reaches our eyes after reflecting off surfaces.

The other options suggest different relationships or behaviors of light that are not applicable to the concept of reflection. For instance, a ray traveling towards the object represents incident light, while a ray passing through or bending around the object relates to different phenomena such as refraction or diffraction, which do not pertain to the direct definition of a reflected ray.