‘LIGHT’

Light
Light is the only part of electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the eyes.
Light travels in a straight lines called rays whereas bundle of rays is called beam.
Types of Beams
There are three types of beams namely:
Parallel Beam
Convergent Beam
Divergent Beam
Parallel Beam:

Convergent beam:

Divergent Beam:

Types Of Objects:
Depending upon the production of light there are two types of objects:
Luminous Objects: Give out light of their own such as sun and Bulb.
ii) Non-Luminous Objects: Do not give out light of their own such as rock, wall etc. They are seen because
they reflect the light coming from a nearby object.
Note: Moon is a non luminous it shines when sunlight falls on it.
Rectilinear propagation of light:
Light travels in a straight line in a homogeneous medium.
Types of Materials :
Depending upon to what extant a material allows light to pass through it there are three types of materials:
Transparent Material: These materials permit almost all rays of light to pass through them . The objects
placed on the other side of transparent materials can be distinctly seen.
Examples: Glass , Shallow water etc.
Translucent Materials : These materials permit some rays of light to pass through them while other rays are
reflected back. The objects placed on other side of translucent materials cannot be distinctly seen.
Examples are frosted glass, thin cloths etc.
Opaque Material: These materials don't permit any ray of light to pass through them all the rays of light
falling on them are reflected back Examples wood, cardboard etc.
Shadows are formed when opaque objects blocks the path of light rays.
Object and Image:
Object: Object is a point from where light rays are coming.
Everything we see is the object.
Image: Image is the point where light rays meet or appear to meet.
Types of Images :
Real Image : It is the point where rays actually meet.
It can be projected (taken) on the screen.
Rays appear to come from object. Examples: Images formed by projectors, camera and eye are real images.

Virtual Image: It is the point where rays appear to meet.

It cannot be projected on the screen.
Rays appear to come from Image.
Examples: Images formed in plane mirrors, magnifying glass. Telescope and microscope are virtual

Reflection of Light:
When a beam of light travelling in a medium strikes the boundary of another medium, depending upon the
nature of material, some or all of the rays are bounced back in the first medium . This bouncing back of rays
of light is called reflection.

All surfaces reflect more or less light even transparent materials reflect a small portion of light that is why
one can view his or her own image while peeping through a transparent material if sufficient amount of light
is available.
Laws of Reflection:
There are two laws of reflection ,
The incident ray the reflected ray and the normal at the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
The angle of incidence and the angle of reflection are always equal.
<i= <r
Types of Reflection
There are two types of reflection,
Regular Reflection
Irregular Reflection

Regular Reflection
This type of reflection occurs at smooth surfaces such as mirrors. Parallel rays of light incident on the surface
are reflected in the same direction only.
Irregular Reflection or Diffused Reflection:
This type of reflection occurs at rough surfaces such as wall, cloth etc. Parallel rays of light incident on the
surface are reflected in different directions.
Incident Ray: The ray that strikes a surface is called incident ray
Reflected Ray: The ray that is bounced back after striking from a surface is called reflected ray.
Pont of incidence: The point on the reflection surface where the incident ray strikes is called point of
incidence.
Normal: The perpendicular to the reflecting surface at the point of incidence is called normal.
Angle of incidence (i) : The angle between the incident ray and the normal at the point of incidence is called
angle of incidence .
Angle of reflection(r): The angle between the reflected ray and the normal at the point of incidence is called
angle of reflection.
Plane Mirror:
It is flat or straight mirror(the mirror in one plane).
We see virtual image in the plane mirror.
Characteristics of Image of plane Mirror:
The images formed by plane mirror has the following characteristics :
It is of the same size as the object.
It is laterally inverted.
It is upright.
It is virtual.
It is as far behind the as the object is in front of the mirror.

Ray Diagrams for Plane mirrors

Ray Diagrams are drawn to locate the position and some other features of image formed by optical
instruments.
The basic principles applied in ray diagrams for plane mirrors are:
i) the line joining the object and the image must be normal to the plane mirror.
Ii) both the object and image distances are taken equal from the plane mirror.
Iii) Dotted lines are drawn behind the mirror to show virtual rays while solid lines are drawn in front of the
mirror to show real rays.
Application of Reflection:
Optical Testing: Plane mirrors are used to reduce distance required for optical testing.
Blind Corners: Spherical mirrors help drivers see around blind corners before making turn. Fitting spherical
mirrors at corners in shops allows shopkeepers to watch out for shoplifters.
Periscope: Some ordinary periscopes have two plane mirrors inclined at 45 in stead of prisms
Avoiding Parallax Error: Some measuring instruments such as ammeter have a mirror placed below the
pointer of a scale. This helps to avoid parallax error while taking the reading.
CD Player: CD players also uses plane mirror to read the data present on the compact disc.
Solar Cookers: Plane mirrors are used in solar cookers
Car Mirrors: Mirrors are also used in vehicles to watch the traffic coming from the rear
Medical Use: Dentists use spherical mirrors for examination of teeth.
Refraction Of Light
Cases of Refraction of Light:
There are three ways light can refract through optical medium:
Case 1:

Case 2:

Case 3:

Everyday observations:
Refractive Index:
Refractive index is measure of the refraction of the light as it passes from one transparent medium to an
other.
For a ray of light, passing from vacuum to an optically denser medium,
i) The refractive index is defined by two ways:
c
n=
v
ii) It is the ratio of sin of angle of incidence to the sine of angle of refraction.

sini
n=
sinr

For a ray of light, passing from an optically denser medium to vacuum or air the refractive index will be:
1 sin i
=
n sinr
The greater the value of refractive index (n) of a medium, the greater the deviation of light when it passes
from vacuum into that medium.
Diamond has the greatest value of refractive index which is 2.4 while air has the smallest value of refractive
index which is 1.0003.
 Refractive index for any ,medium can never be less than 1 .
Critical Angle:
The critical angle is the angle of incidence in the denser medium for which the corresponding angle of
refraction is the less dense medium is 90° .
The critical angle can be calculated by the formula:
1
sinc=
n
The critical angel of glass is 42° , of water is 49° and that diamond is 24° .
Total Internal Reflection:
When the angle of incidence in the optically denser medium becomes greater than the critical angle, the ray
of light does not pass into less dense medium, rather it is reflected back . This phenomenon is known as total
internal reflection
Conditions for Total Internal Reflection:
There are two conditions necessary for total internal reflection to take place.
i) The ray of light should travel from a denser medium to less dense medium or from a medium with greater
refractive index to a medium with lower refractive index.
ii) The angle of incidence should be greater than the critical angle.

Dispersion of Light
White light is a mixture of all the colours of the spectrum
Each colour has a different wavelength (and frequency), making up a very narrow part of the electromagnetic
spectrum
White light may be separated into all its colours by passing it through a prism
This is done by refraction
Violet light is refracted the most, whilst red light is refracted the least
This splits up the colours to form a spectrum
This process is similar to how a rainbow is created

Visible light is defined as the range of wavelengths which are visible to humans
Visible light is the only part of the spectrum detectable by the human eye
The different colours of waves correspond to different wavelengths:
Red has the longest wavelength (and the lowest frequency and energy)
Violet has the shortest wavelength (and the highest frequency and energy)
Order of Colors:

Light is a transverse wave

The different colours of light all have different wavelengths (and frequencies)
Red has the longest wavelength
Violet has the shortest wavelength
Light of a single wavelength (a single colour), or single frequency, is known as monochromatic
Ray Diagrams
CONVEX LENS
Object at Infinity

Nature:
Real
Inverted
Diminished
Location:
Opposite side of the object
Image Distance :
Focal length
Application:
Telescope
Object Distance u>2f

Nature:
Real
Inverted
Diminished
Location:
Opposite side of the object.
Image Distance:
Between F and 2F
Application:
Camera and Eye
Object Distance u=2f

Nature:
Real
Inverted
Equal size
Location:
Opposite side of the object
Image Distance:
At 2F
Application:
Photocopier
Object Distance: 2F>u>F

Nature:
Real
Inverted
Enlarged
Location:
Opposite side of the object.
Image Distance:
Greater than 2F
Application:
Projector
Image Distance u=f

Nature:
Virtual
Upright
Enlarged
Location:
Same side of the object.
Image Distance:
At infinity
Application:
Spotlight
Object Distance u<f :

Nature:
Virtual
Upright
Enlarged
Location:
Same side of the object
Image Distance:
Greater than F
Application
Magnifying Glass

Defects of Vision
A human eye always forms a real and inverted image of an object placed somewhere in front of the eye. This
image is formed on Retina.
Brain automatically erects the image.
The object must be placed somewhere between the near and the far point.
Near point is 25cm and far point is infinity.
Defects of Vision :
There are two defects of vision:
Short Sightedness
Long Sightedness
Short Sightedness:

A short sighted person feels difficulty to view distant objects, however he can see the near objects clearly.
Short Sightedness occurs due to two reasons:
The lens of the eyeball is thick i.e. of short focal length
The eye ball is not perfect round, it’s longer than the suitable size.
Due to these reason, the image of a distant object is formed in front of the retina instead of at retina.
Short sightedness can be corrected by wearing spectacles having suitable concave lens.
Long Sightedness:

A long sighted person is unable to view near objects clearly, however he can see distant objects more clearly
Long Sightedness occurs due to one of the two reasons:
The lens of the eyeball is thinner i.e. of the long focal length.
The eyeball is shorted than the suitable size.
Due to these reasons the light coming from near objects are not focused on retina, but behind the retina. So
a long sighted person sees a blurred image for a near object.
Long sightedness can be corrected by wearing spectacles having suitable convex lens.