Chapter 12: Light Transverse:

• Travels in straight line The direction of vibration of the waves

is perpendicular to the direction that
• Consists of transverse waves in which the the light travels
electromagnetic vibrations are perpendicular to
the direction of travel.

Light waves Sound waves

Type of wave Transverse  Longitudinal \
waves cause
the medium to
move parallel
to the direction
of the wave.

Can they travel through Yes, (transparent/ Yes (solid, liquid, gas)
matter? translucent)
Can they travel through a Yes No
vacuum?
How are they detected Eyes, cameras Ears, microphones
Can they be reflected Yes Yes
Can they be refracted Yes Yes
8
Speed of travel 3 x 10 m/s 300 m/s

Explain why you can see lighting before you can hear the thunder?

The light travels faster than sound. Therefore, the light from the lightning travels to our eyes
much quicker than the sound from the lighting.
We can see luminous objects because they are light sources, explain why we can see non-
luminous objects?

We can see objects because light travels from them into our eyes. Luminous objects make
their own light, e.g. the Sun, a light bulb and a candle. Most of the objects do not make their
own light. We can see them because they reflect light to our eyes.

How does light form shadows?

Light ray travels in straight line, travelling from the light source to the object.

A shadow is made when an object blocks light, in which the object is opaque or translucent.

Extra!!!

*Opaque objects make dark shadows; translucent objects

make faint shadows; transparent objects make no
shadow.

*If the object is moved closer to the light source, the shadow gets bigger.

If the objects is moved further away from the light source, the shadow gets
smaller.

*The Sun makes the longest shadows at the beginning and end of the day, when the Sun is
lowest in the sky.
The Sun makes the shortest shadows at midday, when the Sun is highest in the sky.

Reflection of light
Light is reflected when it hit on the surface.
When the surface of an object is smooth and flat, e.g. mirror. All of the light rays bounce off a
mirror without being scattered. Thus, an image can be seen in the mirror.

When the surface is rough, e.g. white paper, light are scattered in all directions.

Laws of Reflection

1. The angle of incidence is equal to angle of reflection.

2. The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal at the point of
incidence lie in the same the plane.

Refraction of light
Any material that light can travel through is called a medium.

When light rays travel from one medium to another they bend.

The change of direction of light ray when it enters or leaves a transparent materials.
How the refraction of light occurs?

The light bends because it travels more slowly in glass than it does in air. A light ray bends
towards the normal when it passes from air into a transparent material.

A light ray bends ways from the normal when it passes from a transparent material into the
air.

White light is a mixture and it can be is split up into a spectrum of colours, which are the same
colours as you see in a rainbow. Explain how the light is split up into seven different colours
when it passes through a prism?

A prism is a triangular glass block.

When the light enters the prism it bends/refracted.

The splitting up of white light into separate colours is called dispersion, which occurs because
of the light refraction.
It also bends as it leaves the prism and a spectrum appears.

The colours of the spectrum always appear in the same order: Red, orange,

yellow, green blue, indigo and violet

Explain why the spectrum always show the same order of colours?

When white light enter a block of glass, some colours bend more than others.

Violets bends the most; Red bends the least.

This means that the different colours travel off in different directions and so we can see them
separately.

Describe the effect of coloured filters on white light.

A filter is a piece of coloured plastic or glass.

It only allows one colour of light to pass through it; and absorbs the other colours.
As we know, a prism divides white light into a spectrum. How to put white light back together
again?

Red, green and blue filters are the primary colours of light.

Adding the primary colour of lights together can make white light.

This is because each filter lets through one third of spectrum.

When you use them together, all colours of the spectrum are present and they add up to give
white.

How we see colour?

Coloured objects only reflect their own colour light.We see colours because those are
reflected off and object. For example, a red book looks red because it only red light is
reflected to our eyes but the other colours are absorbed so we see red.

In red light, the red book still looks red because it reflects the red light. If the book is placed
in any other colour of light, it will absorb the light. Thus, no light is reflected off the book
into the eyes so we see black.
How do polarized sunglasses reduce glare?

Light usually scatters in all directions.

When the light is reflected from flat surfaces, it tends to become polarized
(travels in a more horizontal direction)

This creates an annoying and sometimes dangerous intensity of reflected light that causes
glare and reduces visibility.

Polarized lenses contain a special filter that blocks this type of intense reflected light,
reducing glare.

In these glasses only light perpendicular to the highway is allowed through. This halves the
amount of light reaching the eyes.

Eyes

• The pupil allows light to enter the eye.

• The lens helps to focus the light

• Light sensitive cells in the retina detect the light.

• A nerve impulse travels from the retina to the brain along the optic nerve where it is
interpreted.

• The iris helps to change the size of the pupil