PHYSICAL SCIENCE

Quarter 4 Week 3 Date: ______________

Learning Competency & Code:
1. Describe how the propagation of light, reflection, and refraction are explained by the wave model and the
particle model of light (S11/12PS-IVf-59)
2. Explain how the photon concept and the fact that the energy of a photon is directly proportional to its
frequency can be used to explain why red light is used in photographic dark rooms, why we get easily
sunburned in ultraviolet light but not in visible light, and how we see colors (S11/12PS-IVf-61)

Name: ____________________________________ Grade/Track/Strand: ________________

Address: __________________________________ Contact No.: ________________
Learning Content
Light as a Wave and Particle

We live in a colorful world. The green leaves of trees, the blue lakes and oceans, the white clouds, the
red-orange horizon, the colorful rainbow, the multicolored landscape to name a few. We see these wonderful
creations because of the presence. of light. Would it be wonderful to know the science behind all these? In this
module, you will be introduced to the dual nature of light, its properties and behavior, and the various optical
phenomena created by light. It includes light being a particle and a wave or both.

Light can travel straight through empty space

(vacuum) until it hits something else. Once it has hit another
surface or particle, it is either absorbed, reflected (bounces off),
refracted (direction and speed changes), scattered (bounce-off
in all directions) or transmitted (passes straight through) as seen
in Figure 1. But is light a wave or a particle?

The Corpuscular (particle) Theory – Newton’s Theory Fig.1. Propagation of light

According to the theory, Newton thought that light is made
up of particles that travel through space on a straight line.

 Reflection is the bouncing of light as it hits a surface. Newton demonstrated that particles collide with
the surface and bounce back (see figure a).
 Refraction is the bending of light. It is an attraction between the molecules of the medium and the
particles of light which contribute to the change of speed as the particles of the light travels inside the
medium (see figure c)
 Diffraction is the bending of light as it passes around the edge of an object. Newton felt that light does
not travel around corners. He explained that any observed effect of this is caused by the interaction of
particles when they run into each other at the edges of the objects.
 Dispersion is the separation of light into colors. Newton explained that particles of different mass would
be affected differently when refracted.

Figure 2. The reflection of ligjht (a) particles and (b) waves; refraction of light on (a) particles) and (b) waves

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 Wave Theory of Light

Christian Huygens, a Dutch physicist, argued that if light were made of particles, when light beams
crossed, the particles would collide and cancel each other. He proposed that light was a wave similar to that of
water waves.

 Huygens’ Principle – each point on a wave, behaves as a point source for waves in the direction of wave
motion. Huygens’ wave model of light explains reflection, refraction, and diffraction of light
 Reflection happens when light bounces off an object. Upon hitting a smooth surface as illustrated in
figure b, light would be reflected. The waves would bounce back, producing a reversed image of the
wave.
 Refraction – is the bending of wave when it enters a medium where its speed changes. In figure d, the
wavefront approaches the two media with different densities. Since the incident wave is travelling as an
angle, a small portion of the wavefront starts to slow down upon impact to the boundary while the rest are
maintaining their speeds. This condition makes the wavefront bend while entering the second medium
with higher density.
 Diffraction is the slight bending of light as it passes around the edge of an object which depends on the
relative size of the wavelength of light to the size of the opening.
Light is a particle, a wave or both depending on the phenomenon.

Energy of Light

When light is shown on an atom, its electrons absorb photon which causes them to gain energy and jump to a
higher level. Since an electron can only exist at certain energy levels, it can only emit photons of certain
frequencies. The emitted light can be perceived as a series of colored lines called a line or atomic spectra.
Each element produces a unique set of spectral line.

The electromagnetic spectrum depicts all of the types of light, including those that we cannot see in our
own eyes. In fact, most of the light in the universe is invisible to humans.

The light we can see, made up of the individual colors of the rainbow, represents only a very small
portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is called visible light. Other types of light include radio waves,
microwaves, infrared radiation, ultraviolet rays, X-rays and gamma rays — all of which are imperceptible to
human eyes.

Fig.2. The
Electromagnetic
Spectrum

The relationship between energy and frequency is given by the equation E = hf, here
h is 6.63 x10-24 joules-second called as Planck's constant. A direct relationship exists;
electromagnetic radiation is more energetic with a higher frequency.

Why do we get easily sunburned in ultraviolet light but not in visible light? The sun is a source of the full spectrum
of the ultraviolet radiation which is responsible for causing us sunburn. This UV light has higher frequency than
visible light, therefore it has higher energy.

Why is red light used in photographic darkrooms? Darkrooms used red lighting to allow careful control light to
pass through, so that photographic paper which is light sensitive would not become overexposed that will result

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to ruining the pictures during the developing process. Red light in the visible region of the spectrum has the
lowest frequency and lowest energy and therefore it does not affect the photo developing process.

How do we see colors? Visible light is a small part within the spectrum that human eyes are sensitive to and
can detect. It is of different frequencies and each frequency is a particular color. Objects appear in different
colors because they absorb some colors and reflect or transmit the others. White objects appear white because
they reflect all colors. Black objects absorb all of them so no light is reflected.

Directions:
A. Complete the chart to describe how reflection and refraction are explained by the wave theory and the
particle theory of light

Description
Phenomena
By Wave Theory of Light By Particle Theory of Light

Reflection

Refraction

B. Based on your understanding on the concept on energy of light, explain the following pictures below by
discussing how light plays a role in each diagram.

Explanation Diagram
1.

2.

3
 3.

Evaluation Rubrics

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Parent’s Name & Signature
Teachers Name & Contact No.:
Date Submitted: _______________

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Printed Name & Signature Teacher