HOW LIGHT ACTS AS A WAVE

AND A PARTICLE
for Physical Science Grade 11
Quarter 4/ Week 3

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 FOREWORD

Look around your household. Do you have a mirror, a

camera or even a lens? At shops, have you seen different
types of cameras- digital and non-digital, mirrors- large
and small, overhead projectors, photocopying machines
and even spectacles?.
All these divices are used by our society to give us
images of different objects.

This self-learning kit will serve as a guide for the

learners. We are going to study how light anables us to be
able to see these images.

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OBJECTIVES
At the end of the lesson, the learners are expected to:

K- explain why red light is used in photographic dark rooms, why we

geteasily sunburned in ultraviolet light but not in visible light, and how we see
colors;

S- describe refraction and reflection and expirements that shows both

; and

A- appreciate refraction and reflection by knowing its application in

our daily life and the importance of photon by knowing its common
use and danger.

LEARNING COMPETENCIES
Describe how the propagation of light,reflection, and refraction are
explained bythe wave model and the particle model oflight.
(S11/12PS-IVf-59)

Explain how the photon concept and thefact that the energy of a photon is
directlyproportional to its frequency can be usedto explain why red light is
used inphotographic dark rooms, why we geteasily sunburned in ultraviolet
light butnot in visible light, and how we see colors(S11/12PS-IVf-61)

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 I. WHAT HAPPENED

PRE-ACTIVITIES

Activity 1

Directions: Perform the following activities given and write your own observation.
Write your observation in your activity notebook.

A. Look at yourself in the mirror.

1. What is your observation while looking your reflection in the mirror?
2. How much can you remember about your lesson on reflection of
lights?
B. Materials needed: Glass, water and pencil or spoon.
Procedure: 1. Fill the glass 2/3 full of water
3. Take a pencil/spoon and let it lean against the side of the glass. Look
through the glass at the pencil? What do you notice?

Refraction in a glass of water accessed from Wikimedia CreativeCommons, 2010.

4.Now place the pencil/spoon in the glass and hold it straight up and down.
What do you notice?
5.Can you think why this might be occuring?

Activity 2.
Directions. Write the word TRUE if the statement is correct otherwise FALSE if it
is incorrect.

1. Photon is the smallest discrete amount or quantum of electromagnetic

radiation
2. The term photon was coined by Gilbert Lewis in 1926

3. Photons have no electric charge

NegOr_Q4_PhySci11_SLKWeek3_v2
4. Einstein proved that light is a flow of photons

5. Light has properties of both a wave and a particle

II. WHAT I NEED TO KNOW

DISCUSSION

Reflection and Refraction

What is Light?
Light is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum that can be detected by the
human eye. The electromagnetic spectrum has other parts as we are going
to find out later.

Rays and Beams of Light

What is a ray of light? Light travels in a straight lines. A Ray is the direction of
the path taken by light. In diagrams, such as those in Figures 1(a), 1(b), 1(c),
light rays are represented by straight lines with arrows to show their direction
of motion.
A beam is a stream of light energy.It is represented by number of rays that
may be parallel, converging or diverging as shown in figures 1(a), 1(b), 1(c):

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Sources of Light
The human eye can only see object if light from it enters the eye.
There are two types of objects:

1. Luminuus sources – objects that make their own light.

Examples are the sun, lamps, fires and candles.
2. Non-luminous objects – objects that reflect the light from the luminous
sources. Example are books, mirrors, tables, you and the moon.

Laws of Reflection

As mentioned above, light can be reflected from non-luminous objects. This

reflection among other things allows us to see images in mirrors. Figure 2

below illustrates the reflection of lights in a plane mirror.

Figure 2: Laws of reflection. Hand drawn by graphic designer at LDTC.

NOTE:
You should take note of the following from the above diagram:

➢ The incident ray is the ray of ligth approching the mirror.

➢ The reflected ray is the ray of light leaving the mirror.
➢ The normal is a line that can be drawn perpendecular (at right angle)
to the surface of the mirror. The normal line divides the angle between
the incident ray and the reflected ray into two equal angles.

NegOr_Q4_PhySci11_SLKWeek3_v2
 ➢ The angle of incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the
normal.
➢ The angle of reflection is the angle between the reflected ray and the
nromal.

First law of reflection:

The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal drawn at the point of incidence
all lie in the same plane ( this means that they can all be drawn on a flat sheet of
paper).

Second law of reflection:

The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection (i = r).

NOTE:
A common mistake is to measure the angle of incidence or reflection from
the surface of the mirror. You must remember to measure from the normal.

Exercises:
Answer the following questions to check for your understanding.

1. Refer to Figure 3(a) below.

(a) Which one of the angles (A,B,C, or D) is the angle of incidence?
Answer:_________
(b) Which one of the angles is the angle of reflection?
Answer: ________

Figure 3(a): Reflection.Hand drawn by graphic designer at LDTC.

2. A ray of light strikes a mirror at an angle to the surface of 30°. Refer to
the Figure 3(b) below.

NegOr_Q4_PhySci11_SLKWeek3_v2
Figure 3(b): Reflection.Hand drawn by graphic designer at LDTC.

(a) Calculate the angle of incidence.

(b)What is the angle of reflection?

Refraction of Light

Refraction is the bending of a wave when it passes from one medium to

another. The bending is caused due to the differences in density between
the two substances.
Refraction of light is one of the most commonly observed phenomena,
but other waves like sound waves and water waves also experience
refraction. Refraction makes it possible for us to have optical instruments such
as magnifying glasses, lenses and prisms. It is also because of the refraction of
light that we are able to focus light on to our retina.

Causes of Refraction

Change of Speed Results in Change in Direction

A light ray refracts whenever it travels at an angle into a medium of different
refractive index. This change in speed results in a change in direction. As an
example, consider air travelling into water. The speed of light decreases as it
continues to travel at a different angle.

NegOr_Q4_PhySci11_SLKWeek3_v2
 Refraction of light in water and in glass accessed from Wikipedia
Creative Commons, 2011.

Refraction of light in glass is shown in the figure above. When light

travels from air into glass, the light slows down and changes direction slightly.
When light travels from a less dense substance to a denser substance, the
refracted light bends more towards the normal line. If the light wave
approaches the boundary in a direction that is perpendicular to it, the light
ray doesn’t refract in spite of the change in speed

Laws of Refraction of Light

Laws of refraction state that:

• The incident ray refracted ray, and the normal to the interface of two
media at the point of incidence all lie on the same plane.
• The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle
of refraction is a constant. This is also known as Snell’s law of refraction.

NegOr_Q4_PhySci11_SLKWeek3_v2
NOTE: Please note that the refractive index of glass varies from 1.48 to 1.96
depending on the composition of the glass. Our example above is crown
glass and flint glass.
Example:

1. Suppose a light ray is incident upon a piece of glass of refractive index

1.52 at an angle of 60°(Figure 4),what is the angle of refraction?

Figure 4.Refraction 1. Hand drawn by graphic designer at LDTC.

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Solution:
n = 1.52

n= sin i It then follows that:

sin r

Refraction of Light in Real Life

• Mirage and looming are optical illusions which are a result of refraction
of light.
• A swimming pool always looks shallower than it really is because the
light coming from the bottom of the pool bends at the surface due to
refraction of light.
• Formation of a rainbow is an example of refraction as the sun rays
bend through the raindrops resulting in the rainbow.
• When white light passes through a prism it is split into its component
colors – red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet due to refraction of
light.

Applications of Refraction of Light

Refraction has many applications in optics and technology. A few of the
prominent applications are listed below:

• A lens uses refraction to form an image of an object for various

purposes, such as magnification.
• Spectacles worn by people with defective vision use the principle of
refraction.
• Refraction is used in peepholes of house doors, cameras, movie
projectors and telescopes.

➢ How do photons relate to light?

What exactly is a photon?
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 A photon is the smallest discrete amount or quantum of
electromagnetic radiation. It is the basic unit of all light.

Photons are always in motion and, in a vacuum, travel at a constant

speed to all observers of 2.998 x 108 m/s. This is commonly referred to as the
speed of light, denoted by the letter c.

As per Einstein’s light quantum theory, photons have energy equal to

their oscillation frequency times Planck’s constant. Einstein proved that light is
a flow of photons, the energy of these photons is the height of their oscillation
frequency, and the intensity of the light corresponds to the number of
photons. Essentially, he explained how a stream of photons can act both as a
wave and particle.

Photon properties
The basic properties of photons are:
▪ They have zero mass and rest energy. They only exist as moving
particles.
▪ They are elementary particles despite lacking rest mass.
▪ They have no electric charge.
▪ They are stable.
▪ They are spin-1 particles which makes them bosons.
▪ They carry energy and momentum which are dependent on the
frequency.
▪ They can have interactions with other particles such as electrons, such
as the Compton effect.
▪ They can be destroyed or created by many natural processes, for
instance when radiation is absorbed or emitted.
▪ When in empty space, they travel at the speed of light.

History of Photons
The term photon was coined by Gilbert Lewis in 1926, though the
concept of light in the form of discrete particles had been around for
centuries and had been formalized in Newton's construction of the science of
optics.

In the 1800s, however, the wave properties of light (by which is meant
electromagnetic radiation in general) became glaringly obvious and
scientists had essentially thrown the particle theory of light out the window. It
wasn't until Albert Einstein explained the photoelectric effect and realized
that light energy had to be quantized that the particle theory returned.

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Wave-Particle Duality in Brief
As mentioned above, light has properties of both a wave and a
particle. This was an astounding discovery and is certainly outside the realm
of how we normally perceive things. Billiard balls act as particles, while
oceans act as waves. Photons act as both a wave and a particle all the time
(even though it's common but basically incorrect, to say that it's "sometimes a
wave and sometimes a particle" depending upon which features are more
obvious at a given time).

Just one of the effects of this wave-particle duality (or particle-wave

duality) is that photons, though treated as particles, can be calculated to
have frequency, wavelength, amplitude, and other properties inherent in
wave mechanics.

What a photon looks like

Have you ever wondered what shape does a photon have? Scientists
have been pondering this question for decades and, finally, in 2016, Polish
physicists created the first ever hologram of a single light particle. The team
at the University of Warsaw made the hologram by firing two light beams at a
beam splitter, made of calcite crystal, at the same time. The beam splitter is
akin to a traffic light intersection so each photon can either pass straight
through or make a turn. When a photon is on its own, each path is equally
probable but when more photons are involved they interact and the odds
change. If you know the wave function of one of the photons, it’s possible to
figure out the shape of the second from the positions of flashes appearing on
a detector. The resulting image looks a bit like a Maltese cross, just like the
wave function predicted from Schrödinger’s equation.

Hologram of a single photon reconstructed from raw measurements seen in the left-hand side versus the theoretically predicted
photon shape on the right-hand side. Credit: FUW

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Facts about photons
▪ Not only is light made up of photons, but all electromagnetic energy
(i.e. microwaves, radio waves, X-rays) is made up of photons.
▪ The original concept of the photon was developed by Albert Einstein.
However, it was scientist Gilbert N. Lewis who first used the word
“photon” to describe it.
▪ The theory that states that light behaves both like a wave and a
particle is called the wave-particle duality theory.
▪ Photons are always electrically neutral. They have no electrical charge.
▪ Photons do not decay on their own.

Red light is used in Photographic dark rooms

To get pictures from camera film, the film must be cut into separate
pieces, called negatives. The negatives are then used to project the
photographic image stored on them onto special photographic paper.

Photographic paper reacts to light to produce the image taken by a

camera and stored on film. Since photographic paper reacts to light, pictures
using camera film need to be produced (a process called developing) in a
room that is completely dark.

These special rooms used to develop film were called darkrooms.

Darkrooms used red lighting to allow photographers to control light carefully,
so that light-sensitive photographic paper would not become overexposed
and ruin the pictures during the developing process.

Red light is used in the dark rooms because of its safe properties. Red light has
a low frequency and less energy per photons so it has less potential to knock
out the electron that leads to the damage of the photo.

Getting Easily Sunburned in Ultraviolet Light but Not in Visible Light

Light is both a wave and a particle. You can consider light a packet of
energy called a photon (particle), or a time-varying electric and magnetic
field (electromagnetic wave, EM). Although it seems contradictory that
something can be a particle and wave at the same time, experiments and
quantum mechanics assure us that this is so.

Physicists classify EM waves according to their wavelength, the shorter

the wavelength the more energy. UV waves are shorter than visible light
waves, so UV possesses more energy than regular light.

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 UV photons have the right energies to cause chemical changes. When
UV light hits your skin, the DNA in your skin cells can undergo chemical
change. These DNA lesions are called thymine dimers. Your body has several
strategies to repair cell damage, but occasionally the repair is not done
correctly and a mutation result. An accumulation of mutations can make the
skin cell malignant; resulting in cancer. If the damage is too great, the cells
just die. That's what happens when you suffer severe sunburns. The outer layer
of skin dies and a new layer must grow back.

Since UVB(UVB stand for the type B ultraviolet, the middle energy
between the tanning rays (UVA) and the intense germicidal UVC. UVB rays
are the part of sunlight that gives one sunburn) and UVC waves (UVC is the
shortest wavelength of the three forms of UV. The shorter the wavelength, the
more harmful the UV radiation.) have more energy, they have the greatest
potential to damage the skin. However, we are fortunate because
atmospheric chemicals, especially ozone, absorb much of the UVB and UVC
before reaching the Earth’s surface. However, some UV light does reach the
surface and can cause skin damage. You should avoid excessive exposure
to UV light, whether from the sun or a man-made source, to protect your skin.
An estimated 90% of basal and squamous cell skin cancers and 65% of
melanoma cancers result from UV exposure.
Sunburn is associated with damage caused by these chemical
processes. When a UV photon hits some compounds in the body (such as
DNA), it has enough energy to "break" it, causing a chemical reaction that
results in changes that have to be repaired by the body later. Visible light
photons lack the energy to get past this barrier, so they can't cause the same
damage.

There are two methods of protection from UV:

1. Simply prevent long exposure. Stay out of the sun, or cover yourself
when out in the sun.
2. Use a sunscreen containing chemicals like PABA which can absorb UV
light and convert it to heat. This shields the DNA in your cells and you
don't burn. But don't stay in the dark, either! UV light synthesizes Vitamin
D in your skin; children who don’t make enough vitamin D get rickets,
so people need to get a little sun, or take a vitamin supplement.
3. How We See Colors
The human eye and brain together translate light into color. Light
receptors within the eye transmit messages to the brain, which produces the
familiar sensations of color.
Newton observed that color is not inherent in objects. Rather, the
surface of an object reflects some colors and absorbs all the others. We
perceive only the reflected colors.
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 Thus, red is not "in" an apple. The surface of the apple is reflecting the
wavelengths we see as red and absorbing all the rest. An object appears
white when it reflects all wavelengths and black when it absorbs them all.

https://www.pantone.com/articles/color-fundamentals/how-do-we-see-color

Red, green and blue are the additive primary colors of the color
spectrum. Combining balanced amounts of red, green and blue lights also
produces pure white. By varying the amount of red, green and blue light, all
of the colors in the visible spectrum can be produced.

Considered to be part of the brain itself, the retina is covered by

millions of light-sensitive cells, some shaped like rods and some like cones.
These receptors process the light into nerve impulses and pass them along to
the cortex of the brain via the optic nerve.

Have you ever wondered why your peripheral vision is less sharp and
colorful than your front-on vision? It's because of the rods and cones. Rods
are most highly concentrated around the edge of the retina. There are over
120 million of them in each eye. Rods transmit mostly black and white
information to the brain. As rods are more sensitive to dim light than cones,
you lose most color vision in dusky light and your peripheral vision is less
colorful. It is the rods that help your eyes adjust when you enter a darkened
room.

Cones are concentrated in the middle of the retina, with fewer on the
periphery. Six million cones in each eye transmit the higher levels of light
intensity that create the sensation of color and visual sharpness. There are
three types of cone-shaped cells, each sensitive to the long, medium or short
wavelengths of light. These cells, working in combination with connecting
nerve cells, give the brain enough information to interpret and name colors.
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 The human eye can perceive more variations in warmer colors than
cooler ones. This is because almost 2/3 of the cones process the longer light
wavelengths (reds, oranges and yellows).

The most common impairment is red and green dichromatism which

causes red and green to appear indistinguishable. Other impairments affect
other color pairs. People with total color blindness are very rare.

Birds, fish and many other mammals perceive the full spectrum. Some
insects, especially bees, can see ultraviolet colors invisible to the human eye.
In fact, color camouflage, one of nature's favorite survival mechanisms,
depends on the ability of the predator to distinguish colors. The predator is
expected to be fooled by the color matching of the prey. Until recently, it
was thought that dogs didn't see any color at all. Recent studies now show,
however, that dogs can differentiate between red and blue and can even
pick out subtle differences in shades of blue and violet.

Performance Task:

Directions: Write your observations in your activity notebook.

1.While having a swim on the beach and the light of the sun is so strong.
What did you observe on your skin?
2.What is the result of your skin is overly expose in the sun or any ultraviolet
rays (e.g. X-rays, Gamma rays, Microwave etc.)?
3. Why do photographer develop their photo in a darkroom?

Rubrics:

Quality of Opinion/observation – 5
Clarity and Coherence - 5
Total =10

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III. WHAT I HAVE LEARNED

POST-TEST
A. Directions. Write your answer in your activity notebook.

1-5. How do you differentiate reflection from refraction?

6-10. A ray of light in glass makes an angle of incidence of 50° with a glass
water boundary. What angle of refraction does the light make in the water?
Refractive index of water n=1.33

B. Directions. Identification. Discuss briefly your answer in your activity

notebook.

1-2. What is the role of Albert Einstein in discovering photon?

3-4. Give at least three properties of photon.

5-6. Why do we get sunburn if we are overly exposed to the sun?

7-8. Why only red light is used in the darkroom while developing photos?

9-10. How will you protect yourself from UV rays?

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REFERENCES:
Biju’s Learning App.” Refraction of Light” https://byjus.com/physics/refraction-of-
light/

Commonwealth of Learning.” Open Educational Resources 4 Open

Schools,”. http://oasis.col.org/handle/11599/438

Jones, Andrew Zimmerman. "What Is a Photon in Physics?" ThoughtCo, Aug.

26, 2020, thoughtco.com/what-is-a-photon-definition-and-properties-2699039.

Pantone LLC.”How Do We See Color?”https://www.pantone.com/articles/color-

fundamentals/how-do-we-see-color

Shivani Aggarwal Youtube.”Chemistry Behind Film

Photography”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2z6YoaTYNdk

Stack Exchange.”PHYSICS”.https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/339165/why-
uv-light-causes-sunburn-if-exposed-for-too-long-whereas-visible-light-does

Union University.”I have heard that UV light causes sunburn, but what is the
difference in UVA, UVB, and UVC light.”
https://www.uu.edu/dept/physics/scienceguys/2004Apr2.cfm

ZME Science.”What exactly is a photon? Definition, properties,

facts”https://www.zmescience.com/science/what-is-photon-definition-04322/

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 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF NEGROS ORIENTAL

SENEN PRISCILLO P. PAULIN, CESO V

Schools Division Superintendent

JOELYZA M. ARCILLA EdD

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

MARCELO K. PALISPIS EdD

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent

NILITA L. RAGAY EdD

OIC - Assistant Schools Division Superintendent / CID Chief

ROSELA R. ABIERA
Education Program Supervisor – (LRMS)

ARNOLD R. JUNGCO
PSDS – Division Science Coordinator

MARICEL S. RASID
Librarian II (LRMDS)

ELMAR L. CABRERA
PDO II (LRMDS)

CRAYDON T. ABENDAN
Writer
JOAN B. VALENCIA
Editor

NOELYN E. SIAPNO
Layout Artist
_________________________________
ALPHA QA TEAM
LIEZEL A. AGOR
EUFRATES G. ANSOK
JOAN Y. BUBULI
MA. OFELIA BUSCATO
LIELIN A. DE LA ZERNA
DEXTER D. PAIRA

BETA QA TEAM
LIEZEL A. AGOR - BESAS
JOAN Y. BUBULI - VALENCIA
LIELIN A. DE LA ZERNA
PETER PAUL A. PATRON
THOMAS JOGIE U. TOLEDO

DISCLAIMER
The information, activities and assessments used in this material are designed to provide accessible learning modality to
20
the teachers and learners of the Division of Negros Oriental. The contents of this module are carefully researched, chosen, and
evaluated to comply with the set learning competencies. The writers and evaluator were clearly instructed to give credits to
information and illustrations used to substantiate this material. All content is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in any
form without expressed written consent from the division. NegOr_Q4_PhySci11_SLKWeek3_v2
SYNOPSIS
“God said, ‘Let there be light’...” ANSWER KEY
Since ancient times people believed
that light was with God, or, that light was
God himself.
From another perspective, one
could say that the essence of the dual
nature of light as both a particle and a
wave. The evolution of this idea is
contributing to diverse scientific and
technological advances.
Light is a very important part of life.
Although sometimes the study of the
dynamics of light may seem to be
confusing, refraction and reflection aspects of
light is quite simple, and they have a
myriad of applications.
As evidenced in the discussion above,
refraction and reflection have a number
of differences that distinguish them.
Just what is the true nature of
light? Is it a wave or perhaps a flow of
extremely small particles? These questions
have long puzzled scientists. Let us travel
through history as we study this matter.

About the Author

CRAYDON T. ABENDAN, finished his Bachelor of Science in Nursing at

University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos and finished his Bachelor
of Science in Secondary Education major in General Science at
Central Negros College, San Carlos City and just passed his CAR-
MAED major in General
21 Biology at Central Philippine State University.
He is currently teaching at Jose B. Cardenas Memorial High School
Senior High School Department. He NegOr_Q4_PhySci11_SLKWeek3_v2
is also a Grade 11 Coordinator,
Schools’ Prefect of Discipline and District Health Coordinator.