An overhead lamp illuminates both a glossy magazine page and a sheet of matte printer paper that lie side by side on a desk. A bright glare spot appears on the glossy page, while the matte page looks uniformly bright with no single intense spot. Which of the following statements best explains this observation?
(a) The glossy page absorbs less light than the matte paper, so the greater reflected intensity produces the glare spot.
(b) The glossy surface is smooth on the scale of visible wavelengths, so it reflects light specularly into a narrow range of directions, whereas the matte paper is rough and reflects light diffusely in many directions.
(c) The glossy page refracts some of the incident light back into the air, and this returned light appears as the bright spot, while the matte paper does not refract the light appreciably.
(d) The glossy surface partially polarizes the reflected light, concentrating most of the light toward the viewer and forming a bright glare, whereas the matte paper does not polarize the light as strongly.