The sun, a light bulb, a bonfire, and your television screen

gives off light. Light Energy is formed by electromagnetic

waves.
So, what is Electromagnetic waves? These are waves that
have both electric and magnetic fields. Visible light is an
electromagnetic wave that enables you to see things. This is the
only form of light that is visible to the human eye.

There are different properties of light that may be observed when

light hits an object. Light may be transmitted, absorbed,
reflected, or refracted.

Get a clear glass. Put an object inside the glass. Look through the
sides of the glass. Now, are you able to see the object inside the
glass? Yes! Similarly, the rays of the sun can go through a glass
window. In both cases, light passes directly through glass. This
property of light is called transmission. A clear glass transmits
light so well, making the glass’s content visible from the outside.

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Materials that transmit light are transparent materials while

those that do not transmit light as much as transparent materials
do are called Translucent materials. It allows only some light
to pass through like the frosted window, tinted plastic cups,
waxed paper, and sunglasses.

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Why do you see cars, books, and people when they do not
produce their own light? These objects must reflect light in order
to be seen. Like a ball that bounces off a wall, light bounces
when it hits another object. This property of light is called
reflection. Reflection is the bouncing back of the light from the
surface it hits.

You see yourself in front of a mirror because light is reflected by

a mirror. Mirror, metal spoons, shiny cars, and surface of water
are examples of good reflectors of light.

A spoon inside a clear glass with water appears broken. Why?

Because when light passes from one material to another, for
example, from air to water, it changes its speed. The change in
speed of light causes the material to appear cut, bent, or
refracted.

Materials absorbed light differently. Black objects absorb light

completely. Some absorb light selectively, others do not absorb
light at all.

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When sunlight or white light reaches a prism like a drop of water,
it separates light into many colors. We see this as a rainbow. This
shows that white light is made up of the whole range of colors
that the eyes can detect. When these colors combine, our eyes
see white.

When sunlight hits a red dress, all the other colors are absorbed
except red. The red component of the light bounces back. That is
why you see the red color of the dress. The absorbed colors are
the ones you do not see. You only see the colors that come
bouncing back to your eyes.

Sound is a form of energy. It is observed when playing a guitar,

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When listening to a chirping bird,
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And when a mother sings a lullaby to put her child to sleep.

Sound energy is produced by the vibration of objects. The force

of vibration determines the kind of sound produced. Pleasant
sounds, like what I’ve mentioned earlier, are produced by even
vibrations. These sounds are pleasant to the ears, while the
exploding of fireworks produce an unpleasant sound that irritates
one’s ear and may damage your eardrums.

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A sound wave moves outward in all directions from the vibrating
source. It travels through all forms of matter: solids, liquids, and
gases. The matter that supports the sound is called the medium.

Pitch, loudness, and tone are the three properties of sounds.

Pitch describes how high or low a sound produced is. Sound with
less vibration has a lower pitch while that with more vibrations
has a higher pitch. The number of vibrations a sound energy
creates is called frequency. The frequency of sound determines
the pitch of a sound. The strings of a vq iolin vibrate more than
the strings of a bass guitar do. So, a violin has a high pitch and a
bass guitar has a low pitch.

The loudness of a sound is also determined by the sensitivity of

the ear. A sound becomes noise when one’s ear could not
tolerate the loudness. Common sources of loud sounds include
sounds in discos, concerts, live bands, and some other forms of
amplified music or speech.

Tone is the measure of the quality of sound wave. The quality of

the sound produced in a particular musical instrument depends
on how patterns of sound mix together. Sounds with regular
pattern are music to the ear. The more irregular the vibration, the
more jagged or uneven the sound wave is.