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Chapter 7
Light
Sources of light
Luminous
Producing light
The Sun (luminous) versus the Moon (nonluminous)

Incandescent
Glowing with visible light from high temperatures
Examples: flames, incandescent light bulbs
Produce light via electromagnetic waves
What is Light
i) Light is a form of energy which helps us to see
objects.( in simple words, everything we see is
light)

i) When light falls on objects, it reflects the light
and when the reflected light reaches our eyes
then we see the objects.
What is light?
iii) Light travels in straight line.

iv) The common phenomena of light are formation
of shadows, formation of images by mirrors and
lenses, bending of light by a medium, twinkling
of stars, formation of rainbow etc.

What is light
Light is actually a really thin strand of
electromagnetic radiation from 400nm-
700nm.
This means if you look at an orange it
looks like an orange because of its
reflecting frequency of orange color.
Electromagnetic Spectrum
Take a look at electromagnetic
spectrum.(EMS)

EMS lays out all the different kinds
of radiations from very low
frequency to very high frequency

What is frequency
Frequency is the number of waves
per second. We measure that in
Hertz.

Visible light is electromagnetic
wave.
What is an electromagnetic wave?
Transverse waves
Regenerating co-
oscillation of electric
and magnetic fields
Form when electric
charge is accelerated
by external force
Frequency depends on
acceleration of charge
Greater the acceleration,
higher the frequency

Show video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfXzwh3KadE

How light is produced?


Electrical charge is accelerated by external
force
Acceleration produces wave consisting of
electrical and magnetic fields
Wave moves through space; the fields
exchange energy and continue on until the
energy is absorbed by matter

Blackbody radiation
Blackbody
Ideal absorber/emitter of
light
Radiation originates from
oscillation of near-
surface charges
Increasing temperature
Amount of radiation
increases
Peak in emission
spectrum moves to
higher frequency
Spectrum of the Sun
Properties of light - two
models
Light ray model
Particle-like view
Photons travel in
straight lines
Applications
Mirrors
Prisms
Lenses
Wave model
Traces motions of wave
fronts
Best explains
Interference
Diffraction
Polarization
Light interacts with matter
Interaction begins at
surface and depends on
Smoothness of surface
Nature of the material
Angle of incidence
Possible interactions
Reflection
Refraction
Absorption
Transmission
Transparent materials transmit light

Opaque materials do not allow
transmission of light
Reflect, absorb or combination
Properties of Light
Image A: Rays reflected
from a perfectly smooth
surface are parallel to
each other.

Image B: Diffuse reflection
from a rough surface
causes rays to travel in
many random directions.

Figure 7.8
Diffuse reflection
Most common visibility
mechanism
Each point reflects light
in all directions
Bundles of light from
object are seen by the
eye
Colors result from
selective wavelength
reflection/absorption
Reflection of light :-

When light falls on a highly polished
surface like a mirror most of the light is
sent back into the same medium. This
process is called reflection of light.

Laws of reflection of light :-

i) The angle of incidence is equal to the
angle of reflection.
ii) The incident ray, the reflected ray and
the normal to the mirror at the point of
incidence all lie in the same plane.

Figure 7.10
Image formation
Real image
Can be viewed or
displayed at its location
Example - movie image
on a screen
Virtual image
Appears to come from a
location where it is not
directly visible
Examples: plane mirror,
convex mirror, concave
mirror
Refraction
Light crossing a boundary
surface and changing
direction
Reason: change in light
propagation speed
Moving to a medium with a
slower propagation speed
Light bends toward
surface normal
Moving to a medium with a
faster propagation speed
Light bends away from
the normal
Magnitude of refraction depends on:
Angle that light strikes surface
Ratio of speed of light in the two
transparent materials
Incident ray perpendicular to surface not
refracted
Refraction of Light
When light travels
obliquely from one
transparent medium
into another it gets
bent. This bending of
light is called
refraction of light.

Refraction of Light
When light travels from a rarer
medium to a denser medium, it
bends towards the normal.
Refraction of Light
When light travels from a denser
medium to a rarer medium to a rarer
medium, it bends away from the
normal.

Refraction of light :-
A. When light travels from a rarer medium to a denser medium, it bends
towards the normal.

B. When light travels from a denser medium to a rarer medium to a
rarer medium, it bends away from the normal.

Denser medium Rarer medium
Rarer medium
Denser medium
Normal
Normal
Dispersion and Colours
White light
Mixture of colors in sunlight
Separated with a prism
Dispersion
Index of refraction varies
with wavelength
Different wavelengths
refract at different angles
Violet refracted most (blue
sky)
Red refracted least (red
sunsets)
Example: rainbows
Wavelength/frequency relate
Dispersion: Rainbows
Why do we see rainbows?
1. We see rainbows when the sun is
behind us and falling rain is in front of
us.
2. When sunlight strikes a falling drop of
water it is refracted by the surface of
water
3. The light continues in the drop and is
reflected from the back of drop to the
front.

Why do we see rainbows
4. When the beam hits the front it is
refracted again and emerges from the
drop as the color spectrum that we see
in a rainbow.
5. The water drop acts like a prism to
separate light into different
wavelengths.

Optics
Convex lenses
Converging lenses
Most commonly
used lens
Magnifiers, cameras,
eyeglasses,
telescopes
A convex lens forms an inverted image from
refracted light rays of an object outside the focal
point. Convex lenses are mostly used to form
images in cameras, film or overhead projectors,
magnifying glasses and eyeglasses.
Optics
Concave lances

Diverging lenses
Vision
correction/in
association with
other lenses

The human eye
Uses convex lens with muscularly controlled
curvature to change focal distance
Nearsightedness (myopia) - images form in
front of retina
Farsightedness (hyperopia) - images
form behind retina


Correction - lenses (glasses, contacts)
used to move images onto retina
The nature of light
Wave-like behavior
Interference
Youngs two slit experiment
Interference pattern - series of bright and dark zones
Explanation - constructive and destructive interference
Wave-like behavior -
polarization
Alignment of
electromagnetic fields
Unpolarized light -
mixture of randomly
oriented fields
Polarized light - electric
fields oscillating on one
direction
Two filters - passage
depends on alignment
Reflection polarization
Photoelectric effect
Ejection of electrons from
metal surfaces by photon
impact
Minimum photon energy
(frequency) needed to
overcome electron binding
PE
Additional photon energy
goes into KE of ejected
electron
Intensity of light related to
number of photons, not
energy
Application: photocells
Particle-like behavior
Quantization of energy
Energy comes in discrete
quanta
Used by Planck to explain
blackbody radiation
observations
Particles of light = photons
Detected in digital cameras
with CCDs (charge-coupled
devices)