Physics 1230: Light and Color

TOPIC 4 - Geometrical optics of light rays

Shadows, eclipses, pinhole camera http://www.colorado.edu/physics/phys1230

Geometric Optics
Principles of Geometric Optics

Shadows

A fancy name for how rays are used to understand shadows, mirrors, lenses and rainbows Shadows and eclipses are produced when light rays are blocked A pinhole camera also works by blocking rays Rays bounce off mirrors to produce images (specular reflection)

Mirrors

Why can't you see your reflection in a white piece of paper but you can in a mirror?

A point light source emits rays in all directions radially outwards

The rays from two point light sources look like this

The rays only tell us which direction the light goes in. From wave theory we know that the light gets dimmer as you move further away from the light source. (Think of limited range of automobile headlights.)

Shadows appear when rays are blocked

Wall Rays that are NOT blocked by the book
Shadow

Wall not blocked

Rays that ARE blocked by the book

A B
2 point light sources

blocked

Point light source

Book

Book
not blocked

What happens to the shadow if I move the screen further away?

Concept question

The sharpest shadows are from A) Large bulbs like an overhead projector B) Small bulbs C) Candles D) Two light sources E) Fluorescent tubes

Concept question

Shadows tell us A) What direction the light is shining from B) That something is blocking the light C) That light travels in straight lines D) Where energy is being absorbed

Geometrical optics - shadows To cast a shadow, you need a light from a fairly concentrated source, such as the sun The best shadows come from a point source, for example a small light source or candle To figure out the shadow location, we use geometrical optics - light travels in straight lines A B Which light source will give a sharper shadow?

Medical Application of X-Rays

X-rays discovered by Rntgen (1895) dental X-rays (ca. 1917)

Modern Medical X-rays

When you get an X-ray taken at a hospital, X-ray sensitive film is put on one side of your body, and X-rays are shot through you. At a dentist, the film is put inside your mouth, on one side of your teeth, and X-rays are shot through your jaw, just like in this picture. It doesn't hurt at all - you can't feel X-rays. Because your bones and teeth are dense and absorb more X-rays then your skin does, silhouettes of your bones or teeth are left on the X-ray film while your skin appears transparent. Metal absorbs even more X-rays. When the Sun shines on us at a certain angle, our shadow is projected onto the ground. Similarly, when X-ray light shines on us, it goes through our skin, but allows shadows of our bones to be projected onto and captured by film. This is an X-ray photo of a one year old girl. Can you see the thing she swallowed?

Shadows from Large Sources

Two light sources throw two shadows. The region of overlap is the umbra. The penumbra is reached by rays from one of the light sources. umbra penumbra

More shadows

Solar eclipse as viewed from space

NOTE: The umbra is usually about 200 km wide

Solar eclipse as viewed from space

http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/SEprimer.html

Total solar eclipse

During a solar eclipse, the shadow of the Moon passes over the surface of the Earth. From the Earth, we can see the moon blocking the light of the Sun. Looking at the demonstration, you may think that solar eclipses happen very often. The Sun, Earth, and Moon must be lined up just right, in order for a solar eclipse to take place. This happens only two to five times a year. Since the Moon's shadow is so small, compared to the size of the Earth, a solar eclipse can be seen from only small portions of the Earth.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/solar/index.html

Solar eclipse as viewed from umbra

This nine image sequence captures the essence of the last total solar eclipse of the last Millennium. The central image of totality is a composite made to closely resemble the naked eye appearance of the solar corona.

Total solar eclipse

This graphic shows the path of the Moon's umbral and penumbral shadows during a total solar eclipse to take place in July 2009.

http://www.shadowandsubstance.com/Total%20Eclipse%2003292006/0329solar%20eclipseG.swf

Solar eclipse

http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/solar/index.html

Concept Question: Solar eclipse Where is the moon? A) Left of earth? B) Right of earth? C) Somewhere else Where is the sun? A) Left of Moon? B) Right of Moon? C) Left of earth? D) Right of earth?

Solar eclipse as viewed from space

http://www.mreclipse.com/Special/SEprimer.html

Lunar eclipses

Note the different sizes of penumbra (and umbra and earth and moon!) which distinguishes solar and lunar eclipses.

Animations of lunar eclipse

During a lunar eclipse, the moon passes through the shadow of the Earth. As we look at the moon from the Earth, it looks to us as if the shadow of the Earth is slowly covering the moon. You may think that lunar eclipses happen very often. However, the Sun, Earth, and Moon must be lined up just right, in order for a lunar eclipse to take place. This happens very rarely. In most years there are only two lunar eclipses that can be seen only from certain places on Earth.
http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/lunar/index.html http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0311/112003lunareclipse_koehn.gif

Lunar eclipse
If the moon orbits into the earths shadow a lunar eclipse happens. In a partial lunar eclipse, the moon passes through the penumbra or part of the umbra. In a total lunar eclipse, the moon is completely within the umbra.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/ y2004/13oct_lunareclipse.htm

Lunar eclipse - blood red moon

Negligible dimming results from a partial eclipse. A total eclipse can last up to 100 minutes if the moon passes through the center of the umbra. During some total lunar eclipses, the moon is almost invisible. During others, it is a bright coppery red Why is the moon red sometimes during a total eclipse of the moon?

Dark Side of Moon

When the Moon is fully covered by Earths shadow, it will: A. Fade to black B. Glow itself C. Neither of the above

Concept question
Why is the moon red sometimes during a total lunar eclipse? A) Only light scattered in the atmosphere can reach the moon, since there is no direct path for light from the sun. Red light scatters less than blue and can reach the moon and then your eye B) Moon dust is slightly red in color C) Fires on the moon make it red

Lunar eclipses

Lunar eclipse schedule

(from http://www.earthview.com/ages/mystified.htm)
In 1503, Christopher Columbus during his fourth voyage to the Americas found himself stranded on the island of Jamaica, his ships damaged beyond repair and his provisions running low. At first he and his crew were able to get food from the natives in trade for baubles and trinkets. But as months passed without rescue, the Jamaicans finally refused to supply any more food. Faced with the prospect of starvation, the great Spanish admiral conceived an ingenious plan. Columbus knew from his navigational tables that a total eclipse of the Moon would occur on February 29, 1504. He arranged a meeting with the natives that evening to coincide with the beginning of the eclipse. He announced that because God didn't like the way the natives were treating him and his crew, the Almighty had decided to remove the Moon as a sign of his displeasure! Columbus timed his theatrics precisely; no sooner had he proclaimed the Moon's disappearance than the Earth's shadow began to steal across the face of the full Moon. The natives were terrified. As the light of the Moon faded they pleaded with Columbus to restore it; they would give him all the food he wanted if he would bring back the Moon. Columbus told them he would have to retire to confer with God, which in this case was an hourglass timing the eclipse. Just before the end of the total phase he announced that God had pardoned them and would allow the Moon to return to its place in the sky. And as Columbus knew it would, the Moon reappeared. The grateful natives resumed the supply of food, and Columbus and his crew were eventually rescued and they returned to Europe.

Mystified by the Moon

Concept Test: Moonbeams

Where do moonbeams come from? What glows? A. Moon B. Sun C. Earth D. Stars

Concept Test: Moonbeams

Where do moonbeams come from? What glows? A. Moon B. Sun C. Earth D. Stars Moonbeams are no more than reflected sunbeams.

Earthshine, Moonshine, and the Dark Side of the Moon

Earthshine allows us to see the part of the moon that is not directly illuminated by the sun. Sunlight first reflects from the earth to the moon, and then back again. Because the amount of light reflected from the earth depends on the cloud cover, the brightness of the dark part of the moon varies from month to month.

Pinhole camera
The pinhole camera or camera obscura is one of the oldest optical devices. Pinhole photography is lensless photography, light passes through the hole and an image is formed. Legend has it that pinhole was discovered by an Arab who saw, on his awakening, a marvelous vision on the wall of his tent. Then he realized that the "vision" was an image produced by a little hole in the tent. This legend may or may not be true. Certainly the Chinese and the Greeks knew the principle of the pinhole camera and used it for observation of solar eclipses. The Arabian physicist and mathematician Alhazen (about 1000 A.D.) explained why the image is upside down. Leonardo da Vinci cited the device in Codex Atlanticus, while the first detailed widely known description of the pinhole camera was given by Giambattista della Porta (about 1560) in his Magiae Naturalis. Pinhole cameras have some remarkable features: no distortion, great depth of focus, reasonable degree of resolution, and a major shortcoming: they are very slow (aperture about f/100 or more).

A pinhole camera works by blocking rays

What is an image?

A real image is formed on a screen when one or more rays from each point on the object reach the corresponding points on the screen and no other rays from other points on the object reach those points

blocked rays Light bulb

Notice that this image is upside down and left-right reversed. Pinhole Camera
Image of light bulb

Finding an image by using rays is called ray tracing.

Trace rays from the object through the pinhole in the camera to find the image rather than trusting your intuition!

Is the image of Alex smaller or larger than the real Alex?

a) Smaller b) Larger c) Same size

Is the image of Alex smaller or larger than the real Alex?

a) Smaller b) Larger c) Same size

Pinhole camera

Pinhole camera

"Who would believe that so small a space could contain the image of all the universe? O mighty process! What talent can avail to penetrate a nature such as these? What tongue will it be that can unfold so great a wonder? Verily, none! This it is that guides the human discourse to the considering of divine things. Here the figures, here the colors, here all the images of every part of the universe are contracted to a point. O what a point is so marvelous!" --Leonardo Da Vinci's comments on the "Camera Obscura" (Dark Room), or what we today call the pinhole camera, the precursor of modern photography.