E.

M SPECTRUM
BY: DR. ISHIKA SAXENA
 REFLECTION
Reflection occurs when light bounces back as it hits a reflecting surface, such as a mirror. This phenomenon
can be described using light rays.
The ray of light that hits the reflecting surface is called an incident ray. After hitting the surface, it bounces
off as a reflected ray. The incident ray and the reflected ray form angles with the normal line, which is a
line perpendicular to the reflecting surface. These angles are called angle of incidence and angle of
reflection, respectively. The relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection is
illustrated in the law of reflection. This law states that the angle of incidence, the angle of reflection, and
the normal line are found on the same plane; and the angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
Types of Reflection
• Regular reflection, also known as specular reflection occurs when light strikes a smooth surface like a
mirror, and light rays are reflected in one direction.
• Irregular reflection or diffuse reflection occurs when light strikes a rough surface, and light rays are
reflected in random directions.
 REFRACTION
Refraction is the bending of light due to the change in its speed when it obliquely passes two different media.
When light travels from a medium with a low refractive index to a medium with a higher refractive index, it
slows down and refracts closer to the normal line. On the other hand, when light travels from a medium with a
high refractive index to a medium with a lower refractive index, it speeds up and refracts away from the
normal line.
The light ray that is entering a different medium is called the incident ray while the bent ray is called the
refracted ray.
Refractive index describes how light propagates through a medium. A higher refractive index means the light
propagates slower, and its direction changes more upon entering a medium. A lower refractive index means the
light travels faster, and its direction changes less upon entering a medium. It is dimensionless.
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 constant. This is also
known as Snell’s law of refraction.
TRANSMISSION
Transmission is the passing of light through a material without being absorbed. For instance, an incoming
light will just pass through a glass window as transmitted light.
The transmission of light occurs when light hits an object that is transparent or translucent and light can
penetrate the material to travel all the way through. When light transmission happens, it can be scattered or
refracted. The extent of the transmission of light depends on the type of the material the light strikes.
Transparent and translucent materials transmit light, but opaque materials do not. If light is not transmitted,
it may have been reflected or absorbed.
ABSORPTION
Absorption of light occurs when light strikes a material, and the energy that it carries is absorbed by the
atoms of the material and is converted into thermal energy. White light is composed of different components
of a spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet (ROYGBIV). When an object reflects all
the components of light, it appears white. However, when an object absorbs all the components of light, it
appears black. Selective absorption describes the tendency of an object to absorb specific frequencies of
light. An object that appears with a particular color means that the object absorbs most of the frequencies
and reflects only the color of the object. For instance, the leaf absorbs all the frequencies of light except for
green. The green color is reflected and perceived by the observer’s eye .
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
Electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that propagates as both electrical and magnetic waves
traveling in packets of energy called photons. There is a spectrum of electromagnetic radiation with variable
wavelengths and frequency, which in turn imparts different characteristics. Examples of energy within the
electromagnetic spectrum include x-rays (most widely clinically used to treat malignant lesions), visible
light, infrared light, and radio waves
Electromagnetic radiation was first predicted in Maxwell's equations in 1864 and its existence was
demonstrated by Heinrich Hertz in 1888. During World War II, microwave technology was used in radar
telecommunications. The first microwave oven was developed by the Raytheon Company of North America
in 1951, demonstrating the potential of microwaves in applications that provide rapid and energy-efficient
heating. In the 1970s, the microwave generator was reengineered by the Japanese into a domestic microwave
oven (a simple, reliable, and cheap magnetron) to be used in food processing.
EM radiation is a form of energy propagation where photons with both particle and wavelike properties
travel at the speed of light. EM waves carry energy and transfer their energy upon interaction with matter.
The energy associated with EM radiation is proportional to frequency and inversely proportional to
wavelength. Thus, EM waves with shorter wavelengths have more energy. Examples of EM radiation (from
lowest to highest energy) include radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, UV, and radiographs EM
radiation can be further divided into ionizing and nonionizing radiation. EM radiation at or below the UV
spectrum is nonionizing, whereas radiographs are ionizing. Ionizing EM has enough energy to remove
tightly bound electrons from an atom or molecule.
Electromagnetic radiation is an electric and magnetic disturbance traveling through space at the speed of
light (2.998 × 108 m/s). It contains neither mass nor charge but travels in packets of radiant energy called
photons, or quanta. Electromagnetic radiation travels in a waveform at a constant speed. The wave
characteristics of EM radiation are found in the relationship of velocity to wavelength (the straight line
distance of a single cycle) and frequency (cycles per second, or hertz, Hz), expressed in the formula c= λ v
where c = velocity, λ = wavelength, and v = frequency. Because the velocity is constant, any increase in
frequency results in a subsequent decrease in wavelength. Therefore, wavelength and frequency are
inversely proportional.
 LAWS GOVERNING E.M.R
There are four laws of radiation:
• Kirchoff’s Law - At a given temperature the ratio of emissive power to absorptive power of a blackbody is a
constant and is equal to the emissive power of a blackbody at the same temperature.
• Stefan-Boltzman’s Law - The total radiant energy emitted from a body is proportional to the fourth power of
the absolute temperature.
• Planck’s Law - It states that the total electromagnetic radiation emitted by a body is not emitted
continuously but is made up of discrete units or quanta of energy.
• Wein’s Displacement Law - It states that the blackbody radiation curve for different temperatures will have
different peaks at different wavelengths inversely proportional to temperature.
 LAW OF ATTENUATION
Attenuation decreases the intensity of electromagnetic radiation due to absorption or scattering of photons.
Attenuation does not include the decrease in intensity due to inverse-square law geometric spreading.
Beer-Lambert Law derivation helps us define the relationship between the intensity of visible UV
radiation and the exact quantity of substance present.
• Used in modern-day labs for testing of medicines, organic chemistry and tests with quantification. The Beer
Lambert law states that for a given material sample path length and concentration of the sample are directly
proportional to the absorbance of the light. Formula: A = εLc . A is the amount of light absorbed for a
particular wavelength by the sample, ε is the molar extinction coefficient, L is the distance covered by the
light through the solution, c is the concentration of the absorbing species
Beer-Lambert law is a combination of two different laws: Beer’s law and Lambert law
Beer’s law was stated by August Beer which states that concentration and absorbance are directly
proportional to each other.
Johann Heinrich Lambert stated Lambert law. It states that absorbance and path length are directly
proportional.
COSINE LAW
Lambert’s cosine law states that the radiant intensity from the ideal diffusely reflecting surface and cosine of
the angle θ between the direction of incident light and surface normal are directly proportional. This law is
named after Johann Heinrich Lambert which is studied in optics and is also known as Lambert’s emission
law or cosine emission law
Diffuse reflection can be defined as the type of reflection of light or an incident ray where scattering
happens at many angles and not just at one angle. Lambertian reflectance is the property exhibited by
diffusely reflecting surface. Lambertian reflectance is defined as that property of substances due to which
they appear equally bright when from any angle.
INVERSE SQUARE LAW
This law explains the a of light with respect to the distance of the source.
Inverse square law states that:
“The intensity of the radiation is inversely proportional to the square of the distance”.
Or
“The intensity of the light to an observer from a source is inversely proportional to the square of the
distance from the observer to the source”.
As per this law, light loses its brightness or luminosity as it moves away from the source
GROTHUS LAW
The Grothus–Draper law (also called the principle of photochemical activation) states that only that light
which is absorbed by a system can bring about a photochemical change.