PROPERTIES OF LIGHT

Reflection – bouncing back of light from a surface

Law of Reflection – “The normal line, incident ray and the reflected ray lie on the same plane.”
∠𝑖 = ∠𝑟

Incident Ray – comes from the source

Reflected Ray – the image thingy

Normal – the one between the 2

Angle of Incidence – angle of inci

Angle of Reflection – angle of ref

Retroreflection – The phenomenon of light rays striking a surface and being redirected back to
the source of light

Refraction – bending of light as it passes thru different media

Index of refraction – measure of how much a ray of light bends when it enters a material
Dispersion – The change in speed of light wave causes the wave to refract

• Since the speed of an EM wave in a medium change with wavelength, the amount of
refraction depends on the wavelength.
• This effect is called dispersion.
• Rayleigh scattering – dispersion of light in the atmosphere
Polarization – Filtering of light waves in which the vibrations occur in a single plane.

Mirage – an apparent shift in the position of objects caused by refraction of light in different
densities.
Interference of light – the phenomenon in which two waves superpose to form the resultant
wave of the lower, higher or same amplitude.
Diffraction – The slight bending of light as it passes around the edge of an object.

Properties of an Image
L - Location
O - Orientation
S - Size
T – Type
Type
Real – Image appears in front of the mirror (could be projected onto a screen)
Virtual – Image appears behind the mirror

Size
Enlarged – Image is larger than the object
Reduced – Image is smaller than the object
Same – Image is the same size as the object

Orientation
Upright – Image is Right-side up
Inverted (Vertical) – Image is upside down
Laterally Inverted – Image is flipped Horizontally

Location
Image Distance

Geometric Optics
Spherical Mirrors – Concave and convex
Concave Mirrors - Converging Mirror
- Center is lower than its edges
- Light Rays converge or come together
- Enlarged images
𝑐
𝑓=
2
𝑐 = 2𝑓

Convex Mirrors - Diverging Mirror

- Center is higher than its edges
- Light rays scatter or diverge after being reflected
- Produces a wider Field Of View
- Produce images smaller than the actual object

Terminologies
- Principal axis – horizontal axis
- Focal Point – Point F in the principal axis
- Center of Curvature – Point C in the principal axis
- Focal length – distance from F to V in the mirror

Rays
P-F Ray – ray of light parallel to principal axis
Others: in ppt
The Mirror / Lens Equation
1 1 1 𝑓𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑜 ℎ𝑖
=𝑑 +𝑑 𝒅𝒊 = 𝑑 =−
𝑓 𝑜 𝑖 𝑜 −𝑓 ℎ𝑜

1 𝑓𝑑 𝑑𝑖 ℎ𝑜
𝑓= 1 1 𝒅𝒐 = 𝑑 −𝑓𝑖 = − ℎ𝑖
+ 𝑖
𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑖

𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑖
𝒇=
𝑑𝑖 +𝑑𝑜

𝒇 = 𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕

𝒅𝒐 = 𝒐𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆
𝒅𝒊 = 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆
The Magnification Equation Index of Refraction (Snell’s Law)
−𝑑𝑖 ℎ𝑖 𝑛1 sin 𝜃1
𝑴= = =
𝑑𝑜 ℎ𝑜
𝑛2 sin 𝜃2
ℎ0 𝑑𝑖
𝒉𝒊 = − 𝑑0

ℎ𝑖 𝑑𝑜
𝒉𝒐 = − 𝒏𝟏 = 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒙 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝟏
𝑑𝑖
𝜽𝟏 = 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆, 𝒅𝒆𝒈
𝒏𝟏 = 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒙 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒎 𝟏
𝑴 = 𝑴𝒂𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏
𝜽𝟏 = 𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏, 𝒅𝒆𝒈
𝒉𝒊 = 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆
𝒉𝒐 = 𝒐𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕
𝒒 = 𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆
𝒑 = 𝒐𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆

LAW OF REFLECTION: ∠𝑖 (𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒) = ∠𝑟 (𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛)

*Magnified for Lenses*

*Diminished for Lenses*

Refraction – bending of light as it passes thru different media

Index of refraction – measure of how much a ray of light bends when it enters a material
Lenses have different shapes; the type of image formed depends on the shape of the lens
Two kinds of lens:
Concave Lens (Diverging)
Convex Lens (converging)