Light

PHYSICS

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Light
1. Light is an electromagnetic wave; It is a form of energy.

2. Speed of light in a vacuum is 3*108 m s-1.

3. Light travels in a straight line in a medium or Vacuum.

4. Light takes around 8 min 19 sec to reach earth from the sun.

5. The wavelength of visible light 7000*10-10 m to 3800*10-10 m

Properties of Light

1. Reflection of light

2. Refraction of light

3. Scattering of light

4. Dispersion of light

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Reflection of Light
 When a ray of light falls on a boundary separated two media come back into the
same media, this phenomenon is called the Reflection of Light.

Laws of Reflection-

1) Angle of Incidence Angle of reflection

2) The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal to the mirror at the point of
incidence all lie in the same plane.

Reflection of light from different type of mirror

Plane mirror

 To see a full object image in a plane mirror, the height of the mirror must be
greater or equal to the height of the object.

 Distance between object and image is two times the distance between
object and plane mirror.

Spherical Mirror ( Concave & Convex )

 A spherical mirror is a mirror which has the shape of a piece cut out of a
spherical surface. There are two types of spherical mirrors: concave, and
convex.

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 Radius of curvature (R) = Focal Length (f)

 Mirror formula is

Where, u is distance between object and pole (P), v is distance between image
and pole (P)

 Different condition

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 Concave mirrors are used in car headlamps. A concave mirror has converging pow-
er, it can concentrate the light ray at a particular point.

 Doctors use concave mirrors because images formed by concave mirrors are larger
in size than original objects.

 Convex mirrors allow you to see round corners and bends. This makes them partic-
ularly useful for blind corners, sharp bends, and your driveway, if you can't see the
oncoming traffic.

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Refraction of Light

When light travels from one transparent medium to another transparent medium to
another medium. It will be derivative from the original direction. It is called Refraction.

Laws of Refraction

 Where n1 & n2 is
a refractive index of material, v1 and v2 is speed of light in material.

 Refractive index: Refractive index is a measure of how much the speed of

light changes when it enters the medium from a vacuum.

 Reflection of light from different type of glass/material

 Apparent depth

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 Refraction through Glass Slab

Here, t is thickness of glass slab

 Refraction through Lens

 Lens is an optical device which converges or diverges the rays of light before
transmitting.

 Formula -

 Magnification (m):

 It is the increase (or decrease) in size of an image produced by an optical

system compared to the true size.

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Total Internal Reflection(TIR)

 When light travels from an optically denser medium to optically rarer

medium at a more than specific angle, It will come back in same medium.
This phenomenon is called Total Internal Reflection.

 That angle is called Critical Angle.

Note- It is not reflection, reflection happens for all angles.

 Formula-

 Optical fiber work on the principle of Total Internal Reflection.

 Mirage is an example of total internal reflection which occurs due to

atmospheric refraction. It is an optical illusion which is responsible for the
appearance of the water layer at short distances in a desert or on the road.

 Diamond is sparkle due to Total Internal Reflection. Light cannot easily

escape a diamond, because its critical angle with air is so small.

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 Why advance Sunrise and delayed sunset?

 Advancement in sunrise and delayed sunset phenomena happen due to the

atmospheric refraction process.

 In this process, the Sun appears to rise early by 2 minutes and set by 2
minutes late.

Scattering of Light:

 It is the phenomenon in which light rays get deviated from its straight
path on striking an obstacle like dust or gas molecules, water vapours etc.

 The sky is blue due to the phenomenon of scattering of light. Blue light is
more scattered.

 Sunrise and sunset are red due to scattering because red colour is less
scattered.

Dispersion of Light:

 Light when passes through prism split into different colour components. This
phenomenon is called Dispersion of Light.

Why does the rainbow appear?

 It happens due to the dispersion of light.

 When white light interacts with water droplets of rain, that time droplet works
as a prism. It can disperse light into seven colors.

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