PHYSICALSCIENCE- GRADE 11/12

Name: ______________________________________ Date: ____________________

Grade: ______________________________________ Section: ___________________

Quarter: 2 Week: 3 MELC(s): Describe how the propagation of light, reflection, and refraction are
explained by the wave model and the particle model of light (S11/12PS-IVf-59); and explain how the
photon concept and the fact that the energy of a photon is directly proportional to its frequency can
be used to explain why red light is used in photographic dark rooms, why we get easily sunburned in
ultraviolet light but not in visible light, and how we see colors (S11/12PS-IVf-61)
⮚ Title of Textbook/LM to Study: Physical Science ADM Quarter 2 Module 7
Topic: Propagation of Light
⮚ Objectives:
1. Explain the wave and particle models of light.
2. Describe the reflection and refraction in terms of the wave and particles models of light.
3. Explain the propagation of light using the wave and particle models.

Let Us Discover

In this Simplified Self-Learning Module, you will learn about Propagation of Light. Are
you ready? Then, let us learn and complete the tasks ahead.

Activity 1. Word Search Activity (Find Me!)

Instruction: Part A. Look for the different words associated with the views on the emergence
of colors of light in the Word Search puzzle. You can find them by running through the words
horizontally, vertically, diagonally, going to the right, going to the left, downward, and upward.
Write a straight line across each word.

Refraction Force Rotational Speed Deflection

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 Particles Mass Inertia Interface
Dual Property of Light (A Wave and a Particle)
Light can behave both as a wave and as a particle. As particles, they travel in straight
lines, thus, producing shadows when they hit an obstruction.
It is also the reason why light bounces off or reflects off of mirrors. Refraction is alsobrought
about by light particles when they traverse through media or materials ofdifferent refractive
indices. It is thought that opposing forces pull the particles of light from and into the medium
resulting to changes of their direction. The photo-electric effect is also an evidence that light
behaves as particles. When light with enough energy falls or hits a metal, electrons are
dislodged or knocked off from it to produce a positive (+) metal surface. The amount of light
energy (known as photon) contains a fixed amount of energy or quantum that depends on the
frequency of the light.
Light also acts as a wave. It has the ability to diffract or bend around an object.
Diffraction involves a change in direction of waves when they pass from an opening or around
obstacles along their path. Refraction happens when light waves change direction as they
travel through materials of different refractive indices, say water and air. Light waves also
undergo interference, the phenomenon that occurs when two waves meet while traveling
along the same medium.
Reflection and Refraction of Light
Reflection and refraction are phenomena that are well-explained by the behaviors of
light. When a source emits light, its dual property can be observed in different circumstances.
Refracting particles of light should also change direction upon passing between two
media. It is suggested in this theory that a special force directed perpendicular to the interface
acts to change the speed of the particles as they enter the second medium, resulting to
bending of light particles.
Reflection produces different types of images depending on what kind of surface light
strikes on. Usually, the study on images is carried out using mirrors as the reflecting surface.
Mirrors can be planar, concave, or convex.
Plane mirrors consist of perfectly flat surface with no distortions and reflect 100% of
the light that strikes them back at a predictable angle.
Concave and convex mirrors have reflective surfaces that curve inward and outward,
respectively.
Concave mirrors are known as converging mirrors because light is focused at a point
as it strikes and reflects back from the reflecting surface.
Convex mirrors are diverging mirrors because as light strikes and bounces back it
spreads over a required region.

No light travels Right hand Left hand

along the path of image

Object Virtual Image

Concave and convex mirrors are parts of spherical mirrors with reflecting surfaces
going inward and outward, respectively.
Convex mirrors always produce images that are located behind the mirror, virtual,
upright, and reduced in size.

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 F F F

As the object distance from the mirror is decreased, the image distance is also
decreased and the image size is increased.
Concave mirrors produce images that depend on the location of the object. At several
locations different characteristics of images can be observed. The images formed can be
located somewhere between the center of curvature (C) and the focal point (F), at C, beyond
C, and somewhere on the opposite side of the mirror. At times, no images are formed by the
mirror. Images can be inverted or upright, smaller, bigger, or the same size as the object, and
real or virtual.
Propagation of Light
Light is an electromagnetic radiation that travels through space as vibrating or
oscillating waves. It is composed of alternating electric and magnetic fields that oscillate

𝑚𝑠 through a vacuum.
perpendicular to each other to the direction of propagation. It travels at a speed of 3.0x108

The electromagnetic spectrum (EM) is composed of waves with varying frequencies,

thus, carrying different amounts of energy. The figure below shows the EM spectrum and the
corresponding wavelengths of each wave.

The wavelength is inversely proportional to the amount of energy or frequency it

The index of refraction of a material can be determined by the ratio 𝑐𝑣, where c is the speed
carries. Longer wavelengths have lower frequencies than those with shorter wavelengths.

of light in a vacuum while v is the speed of light in a particular medium. When light passes
through a material with higher index of refraction, its speed is slower. There are more matter
that scatters light in this material making light moves slower. Water scatters more light than
air, so light energy moves slower in water than in air.
Once propagated, the colours of white light vibrate at different frequencies and can be
dispersed when they strike water droplets suspended in the air or through a prism. White light
is then split into the colours ROY-G-BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet).
The speed of each colour of white light depends on the wavelength of each wave. The waves
with longer wavelengths such as red, orange, and yellow propagate faster than blue, indigo,
and violet which have shorter wavelengths. Due to their speed, refraction and dispersion are
affected when they enter into a prism or droplet of water in the air. Red is refracted the least
and blue is refracted the most. This is the reason why red is always seen on top of a rainbow
while blue is always at the bottom.
When light is incident on a surface, it can be reflected, absorbed, or transmitted. Light
rays that fall on smooth surfaces bounce off with equal angles of incidence and reflection,
producing images that our eyes can perceive. Absorption of light depends on the frequency of
the electrons of atoms present in the objects. If the frequency of a light wave is the same as
the frequency of the electrons in the object, light energy will be set in vibrating motion and
eventually be absorbed. During vibration, the electrons interact with neighbouring atoms
converting the vibrational energy into heat (thermal) energy, never again to be released as
light energy. This happens during photosynthesis where light energy is absorbed by the
leaves and converted into heat energy.

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 Selective absorption of light by a certain material happens because the frequency of
the light wave matches the frequency at which electrons in the atoms of that material vibrate.
Reflection and transmission happens when the frequencies of the light waves do not
match the natural frequencies of vibration of objects. Upon light incidence, the electrons of
the atoms vibrate for a short period of time with small amplitudes of vibration. Light energy is
then reemitted as a light wave.
If the object is transparent, then vibration of the electrons are passed on to
neighbouring atoms through the material and reemitted on the opposite side of the object.
The light frequencies are then said to be transmitted through the object.
Light rays are selectively absorbed by materials and the reflected rays reach our eyes
as the colour of the object. The object appears black when all the colours of the visible light
are absorbed. On the other hand, white is seen when all the colours of light are reflected.
Light waves also experience scattering when they bump mixtures of particles along
the path of propagation. The component wavelengths of light vary in sizes. The size of the
particles suspended in the air also varies. If the size of atmospheric particles are small, only
light with smaller wavelengths are scattered while light with longer wavelengths are scattered
by bigger particles in the air. Since the particulates are small, then blue light is scattered more
than red or orange due to its shorter wavelength. This is the reason why the sky is blue
during daytime.
At sunrise and sunset, the sun is low at the horizon. Light travels through more
molecules in the air. The dense atmosphere scatters more blue or violet light out of our line of
sight. The rest of the colours travel and reach our eyes as yellow, orange, and red.

Let Us Try

Activity 2. Dual Property of Light (A Wave and a Particle)

Analyze the pictures about an experiment showing a beam of monochromatic (single color)
light being focused on a screen with two slits. Two things can happen to the light beam as
shown in the pictures, Fig. A and Fig. B.

1. Describe what happens to the beam of light as it passes through the slits in both figures.
2. Describe the kind of images formed by light after passing through the two slits
3. What can be concluded about the nature of light as described in the two pictures?

Let Us Do

Let’s see how far you understand the lessons of this self-learning module.
Activity 3. Reflection and Refraction of Light
Refer to the figures to explain how reflection and refraction are explained by the wave
and particle models of light. Fill up with the appropriate word/s to give meaning to the
paragraphs that follow. Choose from among the words inside the box to complete each
sentence.

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 refraction force spread changes
bend bounce off slower wavefront
interface reversed particles smooth
Light, as waves, 1) __________ in all directions when emitted. Upon impacting a
smooth, specular surface, such as a mirror, these waves 2) __________ or reflect according
to the arrival angles. The waves turn back to front as they reflect producing a 3) __________
image.
On the other hand, light can also arrive at the mirror surface as a stream of 4)
____________. Since these are very tiny, a huge number are involved in a propagating light
beam. Upon arriving a 5) __________ surface, the particles bounce off in different points so
their order in the beam is reversed resulting to a reversed image.
A beam of light undergoes 6) __________ when it travels between two media with
different refractive indices.
Light, as waves, 7) __________ direction upon passing from first medium to second
medium. A small portion of each angled 8) ___________ should impact the second medium
before the rest of the front reaches the 9) ___________. This part will travel along the second
medium while the rest of the waves is still travelling in the first medium. Movement will be 10)
__________ through the second medium due to higher refractive index. Since the wavefronts
are travelling at different speeds, light will 11) ___________ into the second medium, thus,
changing the angle of propagation

Let Us Apply

You are doing great so far!

Knowledge of concepts is not enough for a learning experience to be
meaningful. We should also understand how the concepts we learned on the
propagation of light can be applied to real life situations to get the most out of
what we learned. Let us look at this simple situation that will help us realize the
advantage of fully understanding propagation of light.
Situation:
Suppose you are with a group of researchers out in a forested area.
Suddenly the rain poured and there was zero visibility in the place. You want to
help your companions out in the woods to find the right path to the lodging area.
One thing that came to your mind is to flash waves of light so that they could see
where you are. What color of light are you going to use and why?

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 References

Books/ Modules
Rosita, Valeria Amor C., B T. Vicencio ( 2020) . Physical Science Module 7: Propagation of
Light

Electronic Sources:

“The Basic Nature of Light.” Photon terrace. Accessed June 27, 2020.
https://photonterrace.net/en/photon/behavior/.

“Particle and Wave Reflection.” Particle and Wave Reflection - Java Tutorial | Olympus Life Science.
Accessed June 27, 2020. https://www.olympus-lifescience.com/en/microscope-resource/primer/
java/particleorwave/reflection/.

“Physics Tutorial: Light Absorption, Reflection, and Transmission.” The Physics Classroom. Accessed
June 20, 2020. https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/light/u12l2c.cfm.

“Physics Tutorial: Wavelike Behaviors of Light.” The Physics Classroom. Accessed June 27, 2020.
https://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/Lesson-1/Wavelike-Behaviors-of-Light.

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GSC-CID-LRMS-ESSLM, v.r. 02.00, Effective April 21, 2021