Chapter 11 - Light Shadows and Reflection

What is light?
Light is produced by luminous objects, such as fires, electric lamps and stars like
the Sun. The light that we can see is called visible light, but there is also light
that we cannot see, including ultraviolet light and infrared light.

Features of light:
a) Light is a form of radiation
b) Light travels in straight lines
c) Light can travel through empty spaces
d) Light is the fastest thing there is. In space its speed is 300 000 km/s

Source of Light
Natural
Natural light sources include the following.
Sun, lightening, glowing rocks (lava from volcanoes) and flames.
Some plants and animals give off light (glow worms and some deep sea fish).
Human-made
There are a lot of sources of human made light, here are some of them:
candles, light bulbs (in torches, around the house), televisions, fireworks.

Luminous Object: Objects that give out or emit light

of their own are called luminous objects.
Example: Candle, Sun and other stars
Non-Luminous object: Objects that do not have their
own light but shines due to reflected light are called
non luminous objects. A ray diagram showing how we can see
Example: Moon a luminous object and a non-luminous
object

How we can show that light travels in straight line?

Take a piece of a pipe or a long rubber tube. Now see through it other end of the
tube, keeping tube straight then bend the tube and try to see other end again
through this tube. You will observe if tube is straight we can see other end clearly
but if tube is not straight then we can not see other end of the tube. This shows
light travels in a straight line.

What will happen when light hits an object?

Four different things can happen when light hits an
object:
1. The waves can be reflected or scattered off the
object.
2. The waves can be absorbed by the object.
3. The waves can be refracted through the object. (light
ray bend)
4. The waves can pass through the object with no effect
Transparent, Translucent and Opaque Materials
1. Transparent: Transparent objects let light pass through
without scattering the rays.
Example: plastic bottles, windows and clear glass
2. Translucent: A translucent object lets some light through
but it scatters the rest of the light so much that whatever
is on the other side cannot be seen clearly.
Example: Frosted glass, butter paper, oiled paper, fog,
tissue paper
3. Opaque: Materials that do not allow light to pass through
are called opaque materials. Some of the light is absorbed
by the material and some is reflected.
Example: metals, wood, rock, book

Shadow:
The shadow is the darker region where the light is blocked. Light travels in
straight lines, so it can not reach this region.

Shadow Depends on Source of light

A. Point source of light (bulb): We will get sharp and dark shadow on the screen.

B. If source of light is wide then shadow will have two parts:

Umbra-An "umbra" is the part of the shadow where all of the

light from the source is blocked by the shadowing object.
Penumbra-A "penumbra" is that region around the umbra
where the shadow is only partial, or imperfect.

Factors on which shape of the shadow depends

• the shape of the object
• the position of the source of light and
• the size of the source of light.

Why the shadow formed by a flying airplane/bird is not formed on the earth?
We cannot see shadow because the umbra is formed close to the object and the
penumbra is too large and too faint to be visible.
Reflection of light: Sending back of light by objects is called reflection of light.

a) Regular reflection: When a beam of light falls on a smooth surface, all the
rays of the beam are reflected in only one direction. This is called regular
reflection.

b) Irregular reflection: When a beam of light falls on an object with an uneven

surface they get reflected in different directions. This is called irregular
reflection or diffused reflection.

Pin Hole Camera

A pinhole camera is a camera in which the lens is replaced by an extremely small
hole, pierced in very thin material. Light from a scene passes through this single
point, producing a more-or-less sharp image on the rear of a light-proof box. The
image is upside-down, as in a conventional camera with a lens

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