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Rishi Garg
Physics, 6th Period
Mr. McQueen
19 May 2008

Light Test – Take Home Portion

1) Light can be described as being both a wave and a particle. There is

evidence to support both claims. In order for light to be a wave, it
would have to oscillate back and forth, in the general shape of a wave.
There is a broad spectrum of frequencies of light that exist. We know
that light must be a wave because otherwise, this spectrum wouldn’t
exist, and we wouldn’t have technologies such as radio and X-rays. We
also know that light is a wave because of the fact that we can direct it
to oscillate in only one plane using a polarizing filter. Then, we can
block those waves using another filter angled at a different direction.
We also know that light is a particle because of the fact that it
interacts with certain objects. If an object is opaque to a certain
wavelength of light, the object will absorb energy from the light and
heat up. This is only possible because light is comprised of photons,
which are light particles. For example, window glass is opaque to
ultraviolet and infrared light. As a result, the photons in the light are
absorbed by the glass and the glass heats up.
2) The photoelectric effect states that when light shines on a metal
surface, the surface emits electrons. This effect can be generalized to
say that the light interacts with the electrons in the surface. Light with
a large amount of kinetic energy will displace more electrons in the
surface than light with a small amount of kinetic energy. Through
careful experimentation, it has been discerned that the frequency of
the light affects the maximum kinetic energy of the photons
interacting with the surface. Ultraviolet (UV) light has a greater
frequency than visible light, and infrared (IR) light has a lower
frequency than visible light. This means that UV light has more kinetic
energy than visible light, and IR light has less kinetic energy than
visible light.
An object that is opaque to a type of light either reflects or
absorbs the light. It does not allow the light to pass through. Although
the photoelectric effect does not directly apply to window glass, we
can generalize some of the concepts. IR light is generally reflected and
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UV light is usually absorbed by window glass. IR light is reflected

because of its low kinetic energy; it does not even have enough energy
to be absorbed by the glass. Instead, it “bounces” off the glass, which
means it is reflected. Conversely, UV light is absorbed because of its
high kinetic energy; it has enough energy to interact with the glass to
the point where it is absorbed. Visible light has just the right amount of
kinetic energy so that it is not absorbed, but is also not reflected; it
passes through the glass.
3) Complimentary colors are defined as colors that can be combined to
create either black or white, depending on the type of mixing. The
complimentary colors of light are different from the complimentary
colors of paint because they use two different types of color mixing.
Light uses color mixing by addition, and paints use color mixing by
subtraction. When light is incident upon paint, it absorbs some of the
light and reflects the rest. This is why some of the color is
“subtracted”. When different colored light waves mix, none of the light
is absorbed anywhere, so all of it is combined with no loss.
When mixing colors by addition (light), since none of the light is
lost, the result of combining complimentary colors is white. When
mixing colors by subtraction (paint), the result of combining
complimentary colors is black. Once again, this is because when paints
are combined, some of the light is absorbed. When two complimentary
colors of paint are mixed, all of the light is absorbed. In contrast, when
two complimentary colors of light are mixed, all of the colors in the
visible spectrum are present and you see white.
4) To see a colored object, the human eye must do many complicated
things. First, light is regulated by the iris, which is the colored part in
the front of the eye. Light then enters the eye through the pupil, which
is the black spot in the middle of the front of the eye. Then, light
passes through the cornea and through the lens, which adjusts to
create a proper focus point on the retina in the back of the eye. The
retina contains photoreceptors called rods and cones, which help to
see the images. Rods are used for low light, motion, and periphery.
Cones are used to see three types of color – red, green, and blue. The
fovea is the region of greatest retinal response, and is located in the
center of the retina. Due to the nature of the system, the image is
projected upside-down onto the cornea. It is later flipped right side-up
in the brain. The three colors detected by the cones overlap each
other, so that if one type of cone is not working, you can still see part
of that color with other cones.
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5) When viewing a colored object, the human eye uses cones to detect
color (red, green, blue). There is a definite amount of cones in the eye,
and if you stare intently at a color you could temporarily deplete the
cones of that color. For example, if you stare at a picture of the
American flag with green and orange instead of red and blue for about
a minute, most of the cones of those colors in the eye will be used up.
If you then quickly look at something completely white, you will see the
original American flag with red and blue. This is because since a lot of
cones were used to view the orange and green, the eye was forced to
use other cones, which were the complimentary colors of green and
orange: red and blue. This illusion only works for about a second,
because the eye quickly recovers all of its cones.
6) Water has a blue color because wavelengths of light pass through
matter differently depending on the material’s composition. Water
molecules scatter blue wavelengths by absorbing the light waves, and
then rapidly reemitting the light waves in different directions. That is
why there are mostly blue wavelengths that are reflected back to our
eyes. Sometimes oceans look green because there is an abundance of
plant life or sediment from rivers that flow into the ocean. The blue
light is absorbed more and the yellow pigments from plants mix with
the blue light waves to produce the color green. The ocean may also
reflect the blue sky. However this is prominent only at low angles and
when the water is smooth.
7) When light is incident upon a mirror, the mirror creates a virtual image
because the light did not originate from the mirror. If you look in the
mirror, you will see a virtual image of yourself. The image will look as if
it has distance into the mirror, or as if the image is behind the mirror,
but it is actually just smaller and has perspective to make it seem real.
The image is really just flat and on the surface of the mirror. When a
camera with an automatic focus bounces a sound wave from the object
to determine where to focus the camera, it will not focus properly on
reflected images. This is because even though the reflected image
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looks like it has depth, it is really just flat on the surface of the mirror.
So, the camera will end up focusing on the mirror.

8) Side view mirrors on cars often carry warnings saying “Objects in

mirror are closer than they appear”. These types are mirrors are
convex. Convex mirrors curve outwards, and show objects as being
smaller than they actually are. When you see an object in a mirror as
being smaller, you perceive it as being farther away than it actually is.
A major advantage of convex mirrors is that since they are
curved outwards, they give a much wider field of view than traditional
flat mirrors. This optical effect allows the driver to see more of what’s
behind the car than would otherwise be seen. In this way, they help
eliminate blind spots.

9) When a layer of air near the ground is significantly warmer than the
rest of the air, the air has a different density and sometimes light can
be refracted and “bounce” off the layer of air. In this way, the light
reflected from an object can travel greater distances than if the light
was simply absorbed by the ground. In Erik the Red’s case, a layer of
air directly on top of the ocean might have been much warmer than
the surrounding air, and caused light waves reflected off Greenland to
travel all the way to Europe, instead of being absorbed into the ocean.
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10)Polarizing refers to the process where rays of light, oscillating in

completely random directions, are directed to oscillate in only one
plane. The direction of this plane is called the transmission axis. Lenses
that have a transmission axis will only allow light that has been
polarized in the same direction to pass through. Sunglasses work by
having a vertical transmission axis, because light that causes glare in
most cases is horizontally polarized. In this way, the glare is not
allowed to pass through the lenses of the sunglasses.
When light is reflected at a certain angle from a surface, the
reflected light is polarized completely parallel to the reflecting surface.
Therefore, light reflected from the hood of a car or a body of water is
polarized horizontally. However, light reflected at a certain angle from
a tall metal tank will not be polarized horizontally; because the tank is
vertically positioned, the light will be polarized vertically. So, the
vertically polarized light will pass easily through the lenses of the
sunglasses. Another possibility is that the light was reflected off the
tank without being polarized, in which case the light will become
polarized upon passing through the sunglass lenses. Either way, the
light will pass through the lenses and will enter the eye.