Lenses & Colours

Goals for this lesson

- to understand the relationship between colours and wavelengths
of light
- to understand why objects appear coloured
- to investigate the dispersion of white light
Convex and Concave Lenses
A lens is usually a curved piece of transparent material
Convex lenses cause light to converge
Concave lenses cause light to diverge
Check your answers!
Converging means the light rays come together
Diverging means the light rays spread out
Real means the image forms on the opposite side of the lens to the light source
Virtual means the image forms on the same side of the lens to the light source
The focal point is where the light beams meet
The focal length is the distance from the lens to the focal point
Colours
Complete the colour blindness
test (link is on Teams)

What was your result? Did you

miss any colours?
The visible spectrum
White light is actually made up of a combination of all of the colours that we can
see!

The range of colours that we can see is called the visible spectrum
Each colour of the visible spectrum has a different wavelength
What about light that isn’t on the visible
spectrum?
Why do objects appear coloured?
If an object is red, like an apple, it is because all
colours except red are absorbed. The red light is reflected by the apple.
This makes it look red!

Green objects, like a leaf, are green because they absorb all colours except
green - the green is reflected.

Why do you think some objects appear black?

Why would some objects appear white?
Dispersion of White Light
How are rainbows formed?
Apply and Deepen
Complete the following activity on OneNote

In your own words, explain how rainbows form.

Make sure you include the position of the sun, the raindrop and the observer
Make sure you include the terms refraction, reflection and spectrum.