Light

In this second part of unit 5:

1)
2)
3)
4)

Properties of light
Reflection
Colours
Refraction

Light
What is LIGHT?
WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

2003 Mike Maloney

What is Light?
Light is a wave, or rather acts like a wave.
How do we know?
Reflection
Refraction
Dispersion
Diffraction
Interference
Polarization
2003 Mike Maloney

What is Light
Light is a special type of wave
What we know as light or VISIBLE LIGHT is
actually a type of something called
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION.
So, what is electromagnetic radiation and
electromagnetic waves?

2003 Mike Maloney

Electromagnetic Waves
When something creates energy it also emits
radiation. Depending on the amount of
energy, the object will emit different
types of electromagnetic radiation.
When we studied mechanical waves, they
were all transferred through a medium.
What medium is light transferred through?
LIGHT DOES NOT NEED ONE!
2003 Mike Maloney

Electromagnetic Waves
Electromagnetic waves are special in the
fact that they do not need a medium to
propagate through.
But what is creating the disturbance?
What is emitting this energy?
ELECTRONS

2003 Mike Maloney

Electromagnetic Waves
Electrons in materials are vibrated and emit
energy in the form of photons, which
propagate across the universe.
Photons have no mass, but are pure energy.
Electromagnetic Waves are waves that are
made up of these photons.
When these photons come in contact with
boundaries, E-M waves interact like other
waves would.

2003 Mike Maloney

Electromagnetic Waves
Electromagnetic waves are everywhere.
Light is only a small part of them

Radios
TVs
Microwaves
Light (Visible/UV/InfraRed)

2003 Mike Maloney

Radiation
Lasers
CD/DVD players
X-Rays

 2000 Microsoft Clip Gallery

LIGHT: What
Is It?

Light Energy
Atoms

As atoms absorb energy, electrons jump out to a

higher energy level.
Electrons release light when falling down to the
lower energy level.

Photons - bundles/packets of energy released

when the electrons fall.
Light: Stream of Photons

2000 Microsoft Clip Galler

LIGHT: Particles or Waves?

Wave Model of Light

Explains most properties of
light
Particle Theory of Light
Photoelectric Effect Photons
of light produce free electrons

Electromagnetic
Waves
Speed in Vacuum
300,000 km/sec
186,000 mi/sec
Speed in Other Materials
Slower in Air, Water, Glass

2000 Microsoft Clip Gallery

Transverse
Waves
2000 Microsoft Clip Gallery

Energy is perpendicular to direction

of motion
Moving photon creates electric &
magnetic field
Light has BOTH Electric &
Magnetic fields at right angles!

Electromagnetic
Spectrum

2000 Microsoft Clip Galler

Electromagnetic Spectrum

2003 Mike Maloney

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Speed of E/M Waves

V=f*
It has been found that the speed of E-M waves
and light is --3 x 108 or 300,000,000 m/s
671,000,000 mph
186,000 miles per second
We call this value c

2003 Mike Maloney

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c = f *
C is constant throughout the universe, as long as
light is in a vacuum.
When it is in other materials, c can change, but
can never be larger than its value in a vacuum.
Since c is constant, all of E-M waves will have a
corresponding frequency to go along with their
wavelength.

2003 Mike Maloney

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c = f * f = c /
Lets find the corresponding frequency ranges for a few
of the groups of E-M waves.

2003 Mike Maloney

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Energy in E-M Waves

Which waves have more energy, Radio waves or
gamma waves?
The greater the frequency of an E-M wave, the
more crests pass a point in a certain amount of
time, therefore the more photons pass that point.
This means that more energy moves past that point
in a certain amount of time or that the wave
contains more energy.
2003 Mike Maloney

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Back to Light
So, why can we only see a small portion of
these E-M waves?

2003 Mike Maloney

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Our Eyes

2003 Mike Maloney

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Visible Light
We now know what we see is part of the
electromagnetic spectrum. We know that
the light waves enter our eye, and
stimulate parts of it that cause an
electrical impulse to be sent to the brain
which creates this visual image.
But everything does not emit radiation. How
do we see those things? And why cant we
see a window?
2003 Mike Maloney

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Seeing things

We know that when waves run into a boundary

they are partially transmitted and partially
reflected.
Light behaves as a wave, so it to is reflected.
Therefore, an object does not need to emit
photons itself to be seen, it just has to
reflect light back to our eyes where we can
detect it.
Objects that do not allow light to pass through
them are called opaque.
Objects that allow light to pass through them
are considered transparent.
Objects in between are called translucent.
2003 Mike Maloney

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Properties of Light
Light travels in straight lines:

Laser

Light travels VERY FAST around

300,000 kilometres per second.
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.

2) When a starting pistol

is fired we see the
smoke first and then
hear the bang.

We see things because they

reflect light into our eyes:

Homework

Luminous and non-luminous objects

A luminous object is one that produces light.
A non-luminous object is one that reflects light.
Luminous objects

Reflectors

Shadows
Shadows are places where light is blocked:

Rays of light

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
Reflection from a mirror:
Normal
Reflected ray

Incident ray

Angle of
incidence

Angle of
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 !!!

Regular vs. Diffuse Reflection

Smooth, shiny surfaces
have a regular
reflection:

Rough, dull surfaces have

a diffuse reflection.

Diffuse reflection is when

light is scattered in
different directions

Using mirrors
Two examples:

2) A car headlight
1) A periscope

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 red

makes magenta
(purple)
Adding red
and green
makes yellow

Adding blue and

green makes cyan
(light blue)
Adding all
three makes
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
light

Only red 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 filters
Filters can be used to block out different colours of light:

Red
Filter

Magenta
Filter

Refraction
Refraction is when waves are bent, or slow down due to
travelling in a different medium. 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 water, air, bent

LIGHT: Refraction of
Light
Refraction Bending of light due to a change in
speed.
Index of Refraction Amount by which a
material refracts light.
Prisms Glass that bends light. Different
frequencies are bent different amounts & light
is broken out into different colors.

Refraction (Cont.)

Polarization
Polarization is a phenomenon of light that is
used in sun-glasses and 3-D movies.
(Play with the polarizing glasses for a few
minutes and note what is happening and see
if you can think of any reasons for it.)

2003 Mike Maloney

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Polarization Hint
Light vibrates in all directions.
A polarizing filter acts like a picket fence.
It only lets certain direction vibrations
pass through it.
Therefore, if you pass light through two of
them you can completely block the light
from passing through.
HOW?
2003 Mike Maloney

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Polarization

2003 Mike Maloney

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Flux

We now know how light behaves, but we must

measure how strong it is.
The rate at which a source emits light is called
the LUMINOUS FLUX (P).
What do you think this is measured in? What
are light bulbs measured in.
LUMINOUS FLUX (P) is actually measured in
something called a lumen (lm).
A typical 100-W bulb emits 1750 lm.

2003 Mike Maloney

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Illuminance
Flux is the total of all the light that is
emitted from a source.
This is not very useful, often we would like to
know how much of that light is hitting a
surface at some point.
The illumination of a surface is called
illuminance, E. It is measured in lumens per
square meter, lm/m2
2003 Mike Maloney

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References

http://www.scimedia.com/chem-ed/light/em-spec.htm, updated 2/1/97

http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=06AFC000

http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/EMSpec/EMSpec2.html

http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/EMSpec/EMSpec.html

http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/color.html#linkshttp://www.physics.
sfasu.edu/astro/color.html#links

http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~astro/color.html

References
http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~astro/color.html

http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~astro/color.html

http://www.holo.com/holo/cmpany/laserart.htmlht
tp://www.holo.com/holo/cmpany/laserart.html

http://www.holo.com/holo/book/book1.html#defht
tp://www.holo.com/holo/book/book1.html#def
http://www.scimedia.com/chem-ed/light/emrad.htm, updated 11/22/97

WORKS CITED
http://www.scimedia.com/chem-ed/light/em-rad.htm, updated 11/22/97
http://www.scimedia.com/chem-ed/light/em-spec.htm, updated 2/1/97
http://encarta.msn.com/find/Concise.asp?ti=06AFC000

http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/EMSpec/EMSpec2.html

http://www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/ALSTool/EMSpec/EMSpec.html

http://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/color.html#linkshttp://www.physics.sfasu.edu/astro/color.html#links

http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~astro/color.html

http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~astro/color.html

http://www.isc.tamu.edu/~astro/color.html

http://www.holo.com/holo/cmpany/laserart.htmlhttp://www.holo.com/holo/cmpany/laserart.html

http://www.holo.com/holo/book/book1.html#defhttp://www.holo.com/holo/book/book1.html#def