INTRODUCTION to

LIGHT
1
 Light
In this unit:

1) Properties of light
2) Reflection
3) Colours
4) Refraction
 Properties of Light

Light travels in straight lines:

• Unless there is a change in
medium

Laser
 Light: wave or particles?
 Light can be Wave overlaps
each other
referred to as
thought of as INTERFERANCE

either
electromagneti
c waves
 or as stream of PHOTONS

particles
called
PHOTONS
 Facts: How light travels
 In straight lines unless the medium changes
 It changes directions when it leaves one
medium an enters another
 As waves or streams of particles
 It travels through translucent and
transparent materials
 Does not pass through opaque materials.
 Affects some chemicals e.g those used in
photography.
 Plays an important role in photosynthesis
Light travels VERY FAST – around
300,000 kilometres per second.
OR 186,000mi/s

At this speed it can

go around the world
8 times in one
second.
Light travels much faster than sound. For
example:

1) Thunder and lightning start at

the same time, but we will see
the lightning first.
 We see things because they reflect
light into our eyes:
Light travels at a finite speed
It takes time for light to travel from
one place to another.

Homework

When we look at objects around us, we are actually

seeing them as they were in the past, not as they are
in the present.
 Light Sources
 Luminous: Objects give off light of
their own. E.g. candle flame, torch,
lighted match, SUN.
 Non-luminous: Do not produce
their own light. They reflect some
or all light falling on them. E.g.
Moon
 Incandescent: Gives off light when
it is heated. Eg. Bunsen burner,
tungsten filament lamp
Point vs. Extended source of
Light
1. Point Sources: the source of light is small
size Eg. Size of a common pinhead
Eg. A small hole in a screen placed in front of
a lamp can act as a point source.

2. Extended Sources: Beam of light with

larger dimension than point source
Eg. Lamp placed in front of a larger opening
 Shadows
Shadows are places where light is “blocked”:

Rays of
light
 Shadows
 A shadow formed by
a point light source
such as a flashlight is
called an umbra.
 It is uniformly dark
and has sharp, well-
defined edges.
 A shadow formed by
an extended light
source such as a
fluorescent light tube Only part of the light gets
through to the screen and so a
has a central dark penumbra is formed.

umbra surrounded by
a lighter penumbra
region.
 The inner and outer
edges of the
penumbra are blurry
and poorly defined.
 Lunar Eclipse

 A lunar eclipse takes place when the Moon enters the shadow of the Earth.
 On such a night, the Earth is directly between the Moon and the Sun, blocking the sunlight
from reaching the Moon.
 “casting its shadow on the Moon”
 In this case Sun, Earth and Moon are nearly in one straight line.


Moon is in the total shadow of Earth, or it is in the Umbra region .
 Since the Moon and the Sun are on opposite sides of the Earth, the event obviously is on a
full moon night.
 Solar Eclipse

 A Solar eclipse takes place when the Earth enters the shadow of the Moon

 On such a day, the Moon is directly between the Earth and the Sun, blocking the sunlight from
reaching the Earth.
 “casting its shadow on the Earth”
 In this case Sun, Earth and Moon are nearly in one straight line.


The Moon’s shadow is the Umbra region .
 Properties of Light
summary
1) Light travels in straight lines
2) Light travels much faster than sound
3) We see things because they reflect
light into our eyes
4) Shadows are formed when light is
blocked by an object
 Reflection of light
 Reflection of light: when light bounces off a
surface.
 If surface does not reflect then you cant see
the object
 If the surface is smooth and shiny, like glass,
water or polished metal, the light will reflect
at the same angle as it hit the surface
 On a smooth surface reflected light rays travel
in the same direction. This is called
specular/ clear reflection.
 For a rough surface, reflected light rays
scatter in all directions. This is called diffuse
Reflection
 If the surface
of the water is
smooth it will
show a clear
reflection of
surrounding
environment
 However, if
wind disrupts
causing ripples
or waves,
reflection will
be distorted.
 Clear vs. Diffuse Reflection

Smooth, shiny surfaces

have a clear
reflection:

Rough, dull surfaces

have a diffuse
reflection.

Diffuse reflection is
when light is scattered
in different directions
 Are Images Real or
virtual?
 Real images: Light rays come from the
actual object
 and image is always inverted

 Virtual Image: light rays appear to be

coming from the object but are coming
from somewhere else
 And images are always upright
Real Vs Virtual
Images
The image
seen in the
mirror is
virtual. The
rays do not
come from
the object
but rather
from the
mirror
reflecting
it.
 Properties of Virtual
image
1. The image obtained is virtual.
2. The image is laterally inverted.
3. The image is erect.
4. The size of the image is the same as Image
the size of the object. appears
5. The distance between the virtual
reverse to
the object.
image obtained is the same as the
the left side comes to
distance between the object from the right and the right
comes to the left.
the mirror.
 Reflection of light on plane
mirror
Light from an object will reflect on the
surface of the mirror.
o The incoming light ray is referred to as an
incident wave
o the ray that is bounced away from the
surface is termed the reflected wave
Ray coming Ray bouncing
from object away from
mirror
 Properties of Virtual
image
 When light waves are incident on a
smooth, flat surface
 they reflect away from the surface at the
same angle as they arrive.
 Reflection
Reflection from a mirror:
Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection

Normal
Angle at which
Angle at which
Incident ray light hits
light bounces Reflected ray
off the surface
surface

Angle of Angle of
incidence reflection

Mirror
 The Law of Reflection

Angle of incidence = Angle of

reflection
In other words, light gets reflected from a surface at
____ _____ angle it hits it.

The
same !
!!
 Ray Diagrams
 A ray diagram is a diagram that traces the
path that light takes in order for a person
to view a point on the image of an object.

 Light comes from an object and is

reflected on a surface (mirror) then travels
to eye so the image can be seen.

 On the diagram, rays (lines with arrows

to show direction light is going) are
drawn for the incident ray and the
reflected ray.
 Ray diagram
The diagram shows 2 rays of light coming from
the object. This is similar to what we did in the
lab. The object is the pin.
As you can see 2 pins were placed to draw each
ray o As you can see the
virtual image that
is formed appears
at the back of the
mirror.
o Same distance
from the object
and mirror.
o All lines drawn
behind the mirror
should be broken
to represent the
formation of the
virtual image
 Using mirrors
Two examples:

2) A car
headlight
1) A periscope
 Light
Visible light is a part of the Electromagnetic
spectrum that can be detected by humans.
 Refraction of Light
 Refraction is the bending of light (it also
happens with sound, water and other
waves) as it passes from one transparent
substance into another.

 This bending by refraction makes it possible

for us to have lenses, magnifying glasses,
prisms and rainbows.
 Even our eyes depend upon this bending of
light.
 Without refraction, we wouldn’t be able to
focus light onto our retina.
 Colour
White light is not a single colour; it is
made up of a mixture of the seven
colours of the rainbow.

We can demonstrate this

by splitting white light
with a prism:

This is how rainbows are

formed: sunlight is “split
up” by raindrops.
The colours of the rainbow:

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet
 Adding colours
White light can be split up to make separate
colours. These colours can be added together
again.

The primary colours of light are red, blue and

green:
Adding blue and Adding blue and
red makes green makes cyan
magenta (purple) (light blue)

Adding red Adding all

and green three makes
makes yellow white again
 Seeing colour
The colour an object appears depends on the
colours of light it reflects.

For example, a red book only reflects red light:

White Only red light

light is reflected
A pair of purple trousers would reflect purple light
(and red and blue, as purple is made up of red and
blue):

Purple light

A white hat would reflect all seven colours:

White
light
 Using coloured light
If we look at a coloured object in coloured
light we see something different. For
example, consider a football kit:

Shirt looks red

White
light

Shorts look blue

In different colours of light this kit would look different:

Red
Shirt looks red
light

Shorts look
black

Shirt looks
Blue black

light

Shorts look
blue
 Some further examples:

Colour object
Object Colour of light
seems to be
Red Red
Red socks Blue Black
Green Black
Red Black
Blue teddy Blue
Green
Red
Green camel Blue
Green
Red
Magenta
book Blue
Green
 Using filters
Filters can be used to “block” out different colours of
light:
Red
Filte
r

Magen
ta
Filter
 Investigating filters
Colour of filter Colours that could be
“seen”
Red
Green
Blue
Cyan
Magenta
Yellow
 Red Blue Green White

Yellow Cyan Magen

ta
 Refraction
Refraction is when waves ____ __ or slow down due to
travelling in a different _________. A medium is
something that waves will travel through. When a
pen is placed in water it looks like this:

In this case the light rays are slowed down by the

water and are _____, causing the pen to look odd.
The two mediums in this example are ______ and
_______.

Words – speed up, water, air, bent