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Refractions, Lenses, and Prisms: Section 4

This section discusses refraction, lenses, and prisms. It explains that light bends when passing from one medium to another due to changes in speed. Lenses use refraction to converge or diverge light, allowing magnification of objects. Prisms disperse white light into a rainbow of colors through refraction, with different wavelengths bending different amounts. The key ideas are how light is refracted at boundaries between media, how lenses focus light, and how prisms separate white light.

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Xavier Santos Ramos
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47 views20 pages

Refractions, Lenses, and Prisms: Section 4

This section discusses refraction, lenses, and prisms. It explains that light bends when passing from one medium to another due to changes in speed. Lenses use refraction to converge or diverge light, allowing magnification of objects. Prisms disperse white light into a rainbow of colors through refraction, with different wavelengths bending different amounts. The key ideas are how light is refracted at boundaries between media, how lenses focus light, and how prisms separate white light.

Uploaded by

Xavier Santos Ramos
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Sound and Light Section 4

Section 4: Refractions, Lenses, and Prisms


Preview
• Key Ideas
• Bellringer
• Refraction of Light
• Lenses
• Dispersion and Prisms
Sound and Light Section 4

Key Ideas
〉What happens to light when it passes from one
medium to another medium?

〉What happens when light passes through a


lens?

〉How can a prism separate white light into


colors?
Sound and Light Section 4

Bellringer
1. Erin is driving through the desert on a hot, dry day
and sees what appears to be water on the road.
What is Erin probably seeing? Explain your answer.

2. Lenses are used to make objects appear larger or


smaller. List at least five different uses for a lens.

3. Explain why a rainbow of colors appears after white


light passes through a prism.
Sound and Light Section 4

Refraction of Light
〉What happens to light when it passes from one
medium to another medium?

〉Light waves bend, or refract, when they pass


from one transparent medium to another.

• Light bends when it changes mediums because the


speed of light differs in each medium.
Sound and Light Section 4

Refraction
Sound and Light Section 4

Visual Concept: Refraction


Sound and Light Section 4

Refraction of Light, continued


• When light moves from a material in which its speed is
higher to a material in which its speed is lower, the ray is
bent toward the normal.
• If light moves from a material in which its speed is lower to
one in which its speed is higher, the ray is bent away from
the normal.
• Refraction makes objects appear to be in different
positions.
• Refraction in the atmosphere creates mirages.
– mirage: a virtual image caused by light in the
atmosphere
Sound and Light Section 4

Refraction
Sound and Light Section 4

Lenses
〉What happens when light passes through a
lens?
〉When light passes through a medium that has a
curved surface, a lens, the light rays change
direction.

• lens: a transparent object that refracts light waves such


that they converge or diverge to create an image
Sound and Light Section 4

Lenses, continued
• A converging lens bends light inward.
– A converging lens can create either a virtual image
or a real image.
• A diverging lens bends light outward.
– A diverging lens can only create a virtual image.
Sound and Light Section 4
Visual Concept: Converging and Diverging
Lenses
Sound and Light Section 4

Lenses, continued
• Lenses can magnify images.
• A magnifying glass is an example of a converging
lens.
• Magnification: the increase of an object’s apparent
size by using lenses or mirrors
• By adjusting the height of the lens, you can focus
the light rays together into a small area, called the
focal point.
• Microscopes and refracting telescopes use multiple
lenses.
Sound and Light Section 4

Lenses, continued

A compound microscope
uses several lenses to
produce a highly
magnified image.
Sound and Light Section 4

Lenses, continued
• The eye depends on refraction and lenses.
• Light first enters the eye through a transparent
tissue called the cornea.
• After the cornea, light passes through the pupil.
• Then, light travels through the lens.
• Muscles can adjust the curvature of the lens until
an image is focused on the back layer of the eye,
the retina.
• The retina is composed of tiny structures, called
rods and cones, that are sensitive to light.
Sound and Light Section 4

The Eye
Sound and Light Section 4

Visual Concept: Parts of the Human Eye


Sound and Light Section 4

Visual Concept: Human Eyes


Sound and Light Section 4

Dispersion and Prisms


〉How can a prism separate white light into
colors?

〉A prism can separate the colors of light because


the speeds of light waves traveling through the
medium depend on the wavelengths of light.

• prism: in optics, a system that consists of two or more


plane surfaces of a transparent solid at an angle with each
other
Sound and Light Section 4

Dispersion and Prisms, continued


• Different colors of light are refracted by different
amounts.
• The speed of a light wave in a medium depends on the
light wave’s wavelength.
– Violet light has the shortest wavelength and travels the slowest.
– Red light has the longest wavelength and travels the fastest.
– Violet light bends more than red light.
• dispersion: the process of separating a wave (such as
white light) of different frequencies into its individual
component waves (the different colors)
• Rainbows are caused by dispersion and reflection.
Sound and Light Section 4

Visual Concept: Dispersion of Light

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