Thomas Young – provided the first experimental
evidence for a wave theory of light through his
double-slit interference experiment
James Clark Maxwell – provided a convincing
wave description of light and other forms of
electromagnetic radiation.
Electromagnetic wave – an electrical and
magnetic disturbance that moves through space at
the speed of light (c = 3.0 x 10^8 m/s)
- Combined field of electric and magnetic
nature/field
- Produced by the oscillating charge on the
antenna
- Also known as Electromagnetic Radiation
 Electricity and Magnetism can both be static.
Types of Electromagnetic Waves:
 Radio Waves – used mostly for
communication
 Microwaves – used for radar tracking, radio
navigation, communication, medical
diathermy, heating in microwave ovens,
drying, and other industrial purposes
 Infrared Waves – heat or thermal radiation
- Causes the amplitude of vibration of
molecules in your skin to increase
 Light Waves – caused by the motion of
electrons in atoms
- starts with red light and ends with
violet light
 Ultraviolet Radiation – darkens the skin
 X-rays – used for examining the interior
objects that are opaque to light
 Gamma Rays – produced by the motion of
charged particles in nuclei.
 energy increases
 wavelength decreases
 frequency increases
 Inverse relationship - frequency & wavelength,
wavelength & energy
 Direct relationship – frequency & energy
Mechanical Waves Electromagnetic Waves
Need a material medium do not need a material
for their propagation medium for their
propagation
they travel through a
vacuum
caused by wave Are due to change in
amplitude and not by electric and magnetic
frequency fields
Considered periodic Are just called
disturbances disturbances
Have low speed Have high speed
Cannot undergo Can be polarized
polarization
Frequency – number of complete vibrations per
second of the field at a point along the path of the
passing wave.
- Also is equals to the vibration frequency of
the wave‟s source.
 EM wave depends on its frequency and speed.
Band – particular range of wavelengths
Electromagnetic Spectrum – radiation energy that
travels and spreads out as it goes
Photon – bundle of energy
Radio Waves
 Longest wavelengths
 Lowest frequency
 Highest energy
 Radio Detecting and Ranging (RADAR) –
to find position and speed of objects by
bouncing radio waves
 Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) –
1980‟s, to diagnose illness
 AM radio – KHz
 FM radio – MHz
 James Clerk Maxwell – showed
mathematically that electromagnetic waves
could propagate through free space.
Microwaves
 Have very short wavelengths
 Can be found between very high frequency
(infrared) waves and conventional radio
waves.
 Transmitter – electronic device, which with
the aid of an antenna, produces radio
waves
 Used in telecommunication such as mobile
phones
 Used in satellite communication, radar,
mobile phones, and for cooking
Infrared
 Sir William Herschel – discovered in 1800
the existence of infrared by passing sunlight
through a prism.
 Spectrum – a rainbow colors
 Has longer wavelength than that of visble
light
 Emitted or absorbed by molecules
 Used to remotely determine the temperature
of objects
 Known as thermography or pyrometry
 Used in:
 Taking pictures of big views
 Show temperature variation of the
body
 Remote controllers
 Telescopes for seeing in the dark
 Autofocus cameras (infrared pulses)
Visible Light
 Portion of EM radiation that is visible to the
human eye
 Given off by anything that is hot enough to
glow.
 We see them as the colors of the rainbow
 Red has the longest wavelength
 Violet has the shortest wavelength
 White – combination of all the color
 Black – absence of light
Ultraviolet
 Has shorter wavelength than that of visible
light
 Produced by high-temperature surfaces
 Ultraviolet radiation in sunlight is absorbed
by oxygen
 Non-ionizing Radiation – any type of
electromagnetic radiation that does not
carry enough energy per quantum to ionize
atoms or molecules.
 Too much Ultraviolet may lead to skin
cancer.
  UVA – longest
 UVB – shortest
 Used in Stillwater, lamps in bank, paints that
glow in sunlight
X-rays
 High-energy waves which have great
penetrating power and are used extensively
in medical applications and in inspecting
welds
 Called as Röntgen Radiation, named after
Willhelm Conrad Röntgen – discoverer of x-
ray
 Has short wavelengths
Gamma Rays
 More penetrating than X-rays
 Has high energy waves
 From nuclear reactions
 Has shortest wavelengths
 Used in sterilizing medical instruments
 Used to kill cancer (kill the cancerous cells)
 Non-ionising are less harmful than Ionising
Non-ionising – ranges from radio to UVA
Ionising – ranges from UVB to gamma rays
Electromagnetic Radiation / Radiant Energy –
the energy produced by nuclear reactions at the
core of the sun
Radiation – the process of emitting energy by 2
basic carriers:
 Particles – high-energy protons, neutrons,
electrons, atoms, and ions
 Waves – light or sound
Classifications of Radiation:
 Natural or Background Radiation
 Radon – a radioactive gas from
uranium found in soil dispersed in
the air
 From radioactive potassium in our
food and water
 From uranium, radium, and thorium
in the earth‟s crust
 From cosmic rays and the sun
 Man-made Radiation
 Includes: Tobacco, television,
medical X-rays, smoke detectors,
lantern mantle, nuclear medicine,
and building materials
 Ionizing Radiation – can create electrically
charged ions in the material it strikes.
- can break apart atoms and
molecules
 X-rays and Gamma Rays – high-
energy parts of EM spectrum
 Cosmic Radiation – energetic
particles arriving on Earth from outer
space
 Neutrons – produced mainly in
nuclear power plants
 Internal Hazards:
Alpha Particles – Atomic nuclei (2
protons and 2 neutrons)
Beta Particles – Fast-moving
electrons ejected from the nuclei of
atoms
 Non-ionizing Radiation – harmless, does
not carry enough energy per quantum
Radiation – changes in the state of an atom
Gamma Rays – produced when the nucleus of the
atom changes state
Cosmic Radiation – comes from both inside and
outside the Solar System
Sources of Ionizing Radiation:
 Radon (Background Radiation) – natural
sources
 Variety of Human Activities – example:
nuclear power plant
Effects of Radiation to Humans:
 Eye and skin damage – may lead to
cataracts, glaucoma, or skin cancer
 Result in cancer
 Sickness and death
 Genetic Mutations
1. Stochastic Effects – long-term, low-level
exposure to radiation
2. Non-stochastic Effects – high levels of
radiation and became more severe as the
exposure increases.
Plato – thought that light consisted of streamers
emitted by the eye
Pythagoras – light originated from luminous bodies
in the form of very fine particles
Empedocles – light is composed of high-speed
waves of some sort.
2 Theories on the Basic Nature of light:
1. Wave (Undulatory) Theory – light has a wave
motion that starts from a vibrating body and is
transmitted at high speed.
Christian Huygens – explained the reflection
of light using wave motion
- Proposed that light consists of series
of waves with their wave fronts at
right angles to the path of the rays.
Huygen’s Principle – different points of a
wave front of light set up a series of
secondary waves.
Ether – a medium, a mysterious substance
which is not air. (light may travel through a
medium)
2. Corpuscular (Emission) Theory – light
consists of tiny particles of matter emitted by a
source that travel only in straight lines – rays
Isaac Newton – described light as a stream of
particles corpuscles.
Thomas Young – was able to study the
interference and diffraction (wave) of light
James Clerk Maxwell – constructed an oscillating
electrical circuit, which showed that changing
electric and magnetic fields could produce
electromagnetic radiation that could travel through
a vacuum.
Heinrich Hertz – demonstrated the existence of
electromagnetic waves (within radio frequency) that
exhibit the same properties as the light.
Max Planck – hypothesized that the vibrating
electrons in incandescent lights could only have
energies restricted to certain values.
Blackbody Radiation – emitted in discrete bundles
of energy, introduced by Max Planck
Quanta (Quantum) - bundles of energy
Quantum Theory of Light (Max Planck)
 Albert Einstein – states that light is
composed of bundles of wave energy
Photons – bundles of wave energy
 In latter part, scientists observed that light was
capable of ejecting electrons
Photoelectric Effect – if light falls on a clean
surface of metals such as potassium or sodium,
electrons are emitted by the surface
Arthur Compton – studied the scattering of X-rays
by electrons all required the assumption of a
particular nature for electromagnetic radiation
without in any way invalidating the wave theory of
light
Louis Victor de Broglie – proposed that every
particle of matter is somehow endowed with a wave
to guide it as it travels.
Galileo – first to hypothesized that light had a finite
speed
 The immense speed of light calls for the
measurement of its passage
 There was no way for Galileo to prove his
theory in his lifetime
Ole Roemer – a Danish astronomer, became the
first person to measure the speed of light over an
astronomical distance
Light – speed of 220 million m/s
Albert A. Michelson – conducted that the speed of
light in empty space at c as 2.9979 x 10^8 m/s
Optics – branch of physics, which involves the
behavior and properties of light, including its
interactions with matter and the construction of
instruments that use or detect it.
Light Source:
1. Luminous Objects – objects that emit or
send off their own light
- Tend to radiate heat as an effect of
being luminous and can store
energy.
2. Non-luminous Objects – objects that
cannot emit their own light
- Illuminated objects
Light Produced:
1. Incandescence – object is heated at a very
temperature, it starts to glow and become
dull red in color
2. Luminescence – process by which light is
produced other than by heating
 Fluorescence – release of light that
lasts no more than about 10
nanoseconds (fluorescent light bulb)
 Phosphorescence – release of light
that lasts longer than 10
nanoseconds (glow-in-the-dark)
Transparency
1. Transparent – permit the passage of light
2. Opaque – block light
3. Translucent – allow only some amount of
light to pass through
- Have both the characteristics of
opaque and transparent materials
 Rays from the source travel radially but when
obstructed by opaque materials, shadow is
produced.
Shadow – the region behind an opaque object from
which light is blocked or cut off.
 Umbra – total shadow
 Penumbra – partial shadow, not equally
dark
Fermat’s Principle – „in going from one location to
another, light will take the most efficient path that is
the path that requires the shortest time, provided
that there is nothing to obstruct the passage of the
light.‟ (Pierre de Fermat)
Photometry – branch of optics that deals with
illumination and the amount of brightness that a
light source possesses.
Luminous Intensity – refers to the brightness of a
light source
Candela (cd) – unit expressed
 The brighter the light source is, the greater is its
luminous intensity.
Luminous Flux – luminous energy wmitted from a
light source. (Lumens lm)
Light – electromagnetic radiation that has
properties of waves and particles.
Echo – reflected sound wave
Reflection – Light waves also bounce off from a
reflecting surface
Law of Reflection – “the angle of incidence is
equal to the angle of reflection as measured from
the normal line, which is the line drawn
perpendicular to the surface of the mirror.”
 Incident ray
 Reflected ray
 Normal line
Reflection of Light:
1. Specular (regular) – occurs when the
reflective surface is very smooth
2. Diffuse (irregular) – when light hits a rough
surface, resulting to the bouncing back of
light waves in different directions.
Diffusion – the dispersal of reflected light
Absorption – the transfer of energy carried by the
light waves to the particles of matter.
Scattering – the reflection of light by particles.
Refraction – bending of light as it passes from one
medium to another.
 Water – 2.25 x 10^8 m/s
Index of Refraction – the ratio of velocities of light
as it passes from a vacuum into another medium
 C – speed of light in vacuum
V – speed of light in another medium
Critical Angle – an angle of refraction that is equal
to 90 degrees in the medium.
Total internal reflection – the incident rays striking
the boundary of 2 media are reflected back into the
first medium and the bounding surface act like a
perfect reflector
Dispersion – effect associated with the separation
of light into colors by prism.
Diffraction – bending of light as it passes around
the edge of a barrier.
- Sometimes called as Scattering
Interference of Light / Optical Interference –
when 2 light waves from different coherent sources
meet together, the distribution of energy due to one
wave is disturbed by the other.
Fringe – a dark or light band
Interference of Fringes – bands of color
Diffraction Pattern – the pattern on the screen,
when only one slit is open
Constructive Interference – when 2 or more
waves come together to form a larger and stronger
wave, matching their crest and troughs (light
bands)
Destructive Interference – when 2 or more waves‟
crest coincide with the waves‟ troughs, the waves
cancel each other out. (dark bands)
Polarization – the orientation of their vibrations
- Undergo polarization
Polaroid Filter - polarizer

Image – formed when light strikes a reflecting

surface such as a mirror or lens.
Object – actual
Image – picture you see in the mirror
Real Images Virtual Images
Light rays actually Light rays do not meet
intersect at the image at the image
Appear inverted, or Appear erect, or right
upside down side up (upright)

Plane mirrors – the common, everyday flat mirrors

- Flat, 2d surface that reflects the light coming
from or reflecting off another object.
 The image is upright, but left-right reversed
Law of plane mirrors – “the image is always the
same distance behind the mirror as the object is in
front of the mirror”
Law of Reflection – “the angle of incidence equals
the angle of reflection”
- Observed when reflecting surface is smooth
Spherical Mirror – second class of mirror in the
form of a slice of a spherical surface.
A. Concave Mirror – mirror that is curved
inward.
- Either virtual or real
B. Convex Mirror – mirror that is curved
outward.
- Virtual image
Features of a concave and a convex mirror:
a. Center of Curvature – center of the circle
of which the mirror represents a small arc
b. Focus – point where parallel light rays
converge, found on the „inner part of the
circle‟. 1/2R
c. Vertex – point where the mirror crosses the
principal axis
d. Principal Axis – a line drawn through the
vertex, focus, and center of curvature of the
mirror upon which the object rests.
e. Focal Length – the distance from the focus
to the vertex of the mirror
f. Radius of Curvature – distance from the
center to the vertex of the mirror, it
corresponds to the radius of the circle.
Pppppppiiiiiiccccttttuuuuuurrrrreeeee
Principal Ray – ray that leaves a point on an
object facing the mirror parallel to the principal axis.
Focal Ray – ray that leaves the same point on the
object and immediately passes through the focal
point.
Chief Ray – ray that leaves the same point on the
object and passes through the center of curvature
of the mirror.
Mirror Equation – expresses the quantitative
relationship between the object distance, the image
distance, and the focal length.

Magnification Equation – the ratio of the image

distance and object distance to the ratio of the
image height and object height.