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Module14 Light

This chapter covers the nature and propagation of light, including concepts such as light rays, wavefronts, reflection, refraction, and total internal reflection. It explains Huygens's principle and how it connects ray and wave models, as well as phenomena like dispersion and scattering that lead to effects such as rainbows and the appearance of clouds. The chapter also includes examples and applications of these principles in optics.

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Andre Benedict Serapio
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8 views20 pages

Module14 Light

This chapter covers the nature and propagation of light, including concepts such as light rays, wavefronts, reflection, refraction, and total internal reflection. It explains Huygens's principle and how it connects ray and wave models, as well as phenomena like dispersion and scattering that lead to effects such as rainbows and the appearance of clouds. The chapter also includes examples and applications of these principles in optics.

Uploaded by

Andre Benedict Serapio
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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MODULE 14 (Chapter 33)

The Nature and


Propagation of Light
Learning Outcomes
In this chapter, you’ll learn…
• To understand light rays and wavefronts
• To analyze reflection and refraction of light
• To understand total internal reflection
• To analyze the polarization of light
• To use Huygens’s principle to analyze reflection and refraction
Introduction
• Why does a rainbow of colors
appear when these tools are
placed between polarizing
filters?
• Our study of light will help us
understand why the sky is blue
and why we sometimes see a
mirage in the desert.
• Huygens’s principle will connect
the ray and wave models of
light.
The Nature of Light
• Light has properties of both waves
and particles. The wave model is
easier for explaining propagation,
but some other behavior requires
the particle model.
• Wave front – locus of all adjacent
points at which the phase of
vibration of a physical quantity
associated with the wave is the
same.
• Ray – imaginary line along the
direction of travel of the wave.
• The rays are perpendicular to the
wave fronts. See Figure 33.4 at the
right.
Reflection and refraction
• In Figure 33.5 the light is both reflected and refracted by the window.
Specular and diffuse reflection
• Specular reflection occurs at a very smooth surface (left
figure).
• Diffuse reflection occurs at a rough surface (right figure).
• Our primary concern is with specular reflection.
Laws of reflection
and refraction
• The frequency does not change on
passing through a surface, but
velocity does, and so wavelength.
• The index of refraction is
!
𝑛 = >1.
"
• Angles are measured with respect
to the normal.
• Reflection: The angle of reflection
is equal to the angle of incidence.
• Refraction: Snell’s law applies.
#!
• In a material, 𝜆 =
$
• Figure 33.7 (right) illustrates the
laws of reflection and refraction.
Reflection and refraction in
three cases
• Figure 33.8 below shows three important cases:
• If 𝑛% > 𝑛& , the refracted ray is bent toward the normal.
• If 𝑛% < 𝑛& , the refracted ray is bent away from the normal.
• A ray oriented along the normal never bends.
Why does the ruler appear to
be bent?
• The straight ruler in Figure 33.9(a) appears to bend at the surface of
the water.
• Figure 33.9(b) shows why.
Some indexes of refraction

Air 1.00029
Total internal reflection
• Light striking at the critical angle emerges tangent to the surface. (See
Figure 33.13 below.)
• If 𝜃& ≥ 𝜃!'() , the light is undergoes total internal reflection.
! "#$% = &$' "! ( #! ( #" )
Some applications of total
internal reflection
• A binocular using Porro prisms (below) and a “light pipe” (right)
make use of total internal reflection in their design.
A diamond
•Diamonds sparkle because they are cut so that total internal
reflection occurs on their back surfaces.
Dispersion
• Dispersion: The index of
refraction depends on the
wavelength of the light.
• Figure 33.19 (below) shows
dispersion by a prism.
Rainbows
• The formation of a rainbow is due to the combined effects of
dispersion, refraction, and reflection. (See Figure 33.20 below
and on the next slide.)
Rainbows
Scattering of light
• Scattering occurs when light has been absorbed by
molecules and reradiated.
• Figure 33.32 below shows the effect of scattering for
two observers.
Why are clouds white?
• Clouds are white because they scatter all wavelengths
efficiently. See Figure 33.33 below.
Huygens’s principle
• Huygens’s principle: Every point of
a wave front can be considered to
be a source of secondary wavelets
that spread out in all directions
with a speed equal to the speed of
propagation of the wave. See Figure
33.34 at the right.
EXAMPLES
• A beam of light has a wavelength of 650 nm in vacuum. (a) What
is the speed of this light in a liquid whose index of refraction at
this wavelength is 1.47? (b) What is the wavelength of these
waves in the liquid?
• Light of a certain frequency has a wavelength of 438 nm in water.
What is the wavelength of this light in benzene?
• A parallel beam of light in air makes an angle of 47.5 degrees with
the surface of a glass plate having a refractive index of 1.66. (a)
What is the angle between the reflected part of the beam and
the surface of the glass? (b) What is the angle between the
refracted beam and the surface of the glass?

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