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LIGHT

Visible light is the light that humans can see. Other animals can see different
types of light. Dogs can see only shades of gray and some insects can see light
from the ultraviolet part of the spectrum. The key thing to remember is that our
light is what scientists call visible light.

Light arrives on our planet after a speedy trip from the Sun, 149 million km (93
million miles away). Light travels at 186,000 miles (300,000 km) per second, so
the light you're seeing now was still tucked away in the Sun about eight minutes
ago. Put it another way, light takes roughly twice as long to get from the Sun to
Earth as it does to make a cup of coffee!

Scientists also call light electromagnetic radiation. Visible light is only one small
portion of a family of waves called electromagnetic (EM) radiation. The
entire spectrum of these EM waves includes radio waves, which have very long
wavelengths and both gamma rays and cosmic rays, which are at the other end
of the spectrum and have very small wavelengths. Visible light is near the middle of
the spectrum.

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Two Types of Light

 Luminous Objects
 Non-Luminous Objects

Luminous Objects

 Luminous objects are objects that give out light on its own.
 They can generate heat and light.
 We get to see luminous objects because their light enters our eyes directly.
 All luminous objects can store energy.
 Examples of luminous objects are fireflies , glow-worms, Sun, flame of a
burning candle, Star

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Non-Luminous Objects

 Non-luminous objects are objects that do not give out light on its own.
 Non luminous objects can reflect both light and heat.
 We get to see non-luminous objects because light is reflected from them
and into our eyes.
 Non luminous objects cannot store energy as in the case of luminous
objects.
 Examples of Non Luminous Objects: Moon, Earth, Tree

Propagation of Light
Propagation of light refers to the manner in which an electromagnetic wave transfer
it’s energy from one point to another.

THREE basic ways to control light

Block it ... with something (this makes a shadow)

Reflect it (change its path with a mirror)

Bend it: Refraction

Reflection
When a light ray hits an object and bounces off, it is called reflection. When you
think of reflection, think about mirrors. They reflect all of the light. That is the
reason you can see yourself. Even the ocean reflects light, just not all of it. If you

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are above the ocean, you can't see the reflection that well, but when you are at an
angle, look closely; you can see a reflection of the sky. So the ocean only has
partial reflectivity.

Refraction
Refraction is when waves, are deflected when the waves go through a substance.
The wave generally changes the angle of its general direction.

Light travels slower through different mediums such as glass, water and air. These
mediums are given a refractive index to describe by how much they slow the
movement of light. Glass has a refractive index of 1.5, meaning that lights travels
through it at around 124,000 miles per second (200,000 kilometres per second).
The refractive index of water is 1.3 while the refractive index of air is 1.0003,
meaning that air only slightly slows down light.
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When light travels from air into water, it slows down, causing it to change direction
slightly. This change of direction is called refraction. When light enters a more
dense substance (higher refractive index), it ‘bends’ more towards the normal line.

The amount of bending depends on two things:

Change in speed – if a substance causes the light to speed up or slow down more, it
will refract (bend) more.

Angle of the incident ray – if the light is entering the substance at a greater angle,
the amount of refraction will also be more noticeable. On the other hand, if the light
is entering the new substance from straight on (at 90° to the surface), the light will
still slow down, but it won’t change direction at all

Shadows

A shadow is made when an object blocks light. The object must be opaque
or translucent to make a shadow. A transparent object will not make any
shadow, as light will pass straight through it.

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Transparent, translucent and opaque materials

Transparent
Transparent materials let light pass through them in straight lines, so that you can
see clearly through them. Glass is an example of a transparent material.

Translucent
Translucent materials let some light through, but they scatter the light in all
directions, so that you cannot see clearly through them. Tissue paper is an example
of a translucent material.

Opaque
Opaque materials do not let any light pass through them. They block the light.
Wood is an example of an opaque material

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Lunar and Solar Eclipses

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What is an eclipse?

An eclipse occurs when one object in space blocks an observer(Earth) from seeing
another object in space. From Earth there are two main types of eclipses: solar
eclipses and lunar eclipses.

Solar Eclipse

A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun causing a shadow
to fall on certain portions of the Earth. The eclipse is not seen from every place on
Earth, but only from the locations where the shadow falls. From these locations, it
appears as if the Sun has gone dark.

There are three main parts of the Moon's shadow during an eclipse called the
umbra, penumbra, and antumbra.

Umbra - The umbra is the portion of the Moon's shadow where the Moon
completely covers the sun.

Antumbra - The area of the shadow beyond the point of the umbra. Here the Moon
is completely in front of the Sun, but doesn't cover the entire Sun. The outline of
the Sun can be seen around the shadow of the Moon.

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Penumbra - The area of the shadow where only a portion of the Moon is in front of
the Sun.

Types of Solar Eclipses

Depending on what part of the shadow you are located in, there are three types of
eclipses:

Total - A total eclipse is where the Sun is covered completely by the Moon. The
portion of the Earth that is in the umbra experiences a total eclipse.

Annular - An annular eclipse is when the Moon covers the Sun, but the Sun can be
seen around the edges of the Moon. An annular eclipse occurs when the viewer is
within the antumbra.

Partial - A partial eclipse is when only a portion of the Sun is blocked by the Moon.
It occurs when the observer is within the penumbra.

An annular eclipse occurs when the moon is directly between the earth and the sun
but the umbra does not reach the earth (Diagram - a).

To an observer who is within the umbra, the sun will appear completely covered by
the moon, that is, a total solar eclipse (Diagram - b).

If the observer is within the penumbra, the moon’s disc will appear projected onto
the sun’s disc so as to cover it partly, that is, a partial solar eclipse (Diagram - c).

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Don't Look at A Solar Eclipse

We should warn you here to never look directly at a solar eclipse. Even though it
appears darker, the harmful rays of the Sun can still damage your eyes.

Lunar Eclipse

The moon moves in an orbit around Earth, and at the same time, Earth orbits the
sun. Sometimes Earth moves between the sun and the moon. When this happens,
Earth blocks the sunlight that normally is reflected by the moon. (This sunlight is
what causes the moon to shine.) Instead of light hitting the moon’s surface, Earth's
shadow falls on it. This is an eclipse of the moon -- a lunar eclipse. A lunar eclipse
can occur only when the moon is full.

A lunar eclipse can be seen from Earth at night. There are two types of lunar
eclipses: total lunar eclipses and partial lunar eclipses.

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the moon and the sun are on exact opposite sides
of Earth. Although the moon is in Earth's shadow, some sunlight reaches the moon.
The sunlight passes through Earth's atmosphere, which causes Earth’s atmosphere
to filter out most of the blue light. This makes the moon appear red to people on
Earth.

A partial lunar eclipse happens when only a part of the moon enters Earth's
shadow. In a partial eclipse, Earth's shadow appears very dark on the side of the
moon facing Earth. What people see from Earth during a partial lunar eclipse
depends on how the sun, Earth and moon are lined up.

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A lunar eclipse usually lasts for a few hours. At least two partial lunar eclipses
happen every year, but total lunar eclipses are rare. It is safe to look at a lunar
eclipse.

Lunar eclipses can be seen by a much larger area of the Earth than solar eclipses.
They also can be viewed without special equipment to protect the eyes. Lunar
eclipses are not totally dark. The Moon will reflect some sunlight that is refracted by
the Earth's atmosphere. The light that is refracted is reddish in color and can cause
the Moon to appear a dark brownish-red.

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