Unit: Light and Sight in Focus
Light is a a wave and particle duality, meaning it has both wave and particles. It is a transverse wave and it
has a photon.
It is a broad spectrum measured by the EM spectrum. We can only see a small portion of the spectrum
(visible light)
Light energy is a ray of light which is a straight line with an arrow that shows the direction in which light
energy travels. It was a wave of particles.
Wavefront is the locus of all those points which have the same phase of vibration.
A beam of light is a collection of rays:
Parallel Beam: This is a collection of rays that go towards the same direction
Divergent Beam: This is a collection of rays that move in all directions from one point.
Convergent Beam: This is a collection of rays that move from all directions to point.
This unit is linked to waves a lot, but there are different types of wave behavior it specifically focuses on:
Reflection, Refraction, Diffraction, Dispersion
Reflection: Reflection is the light bouncing on an object to your eye. The angle of incidence is equal to the
angle of reflection, this is called the law of reflection. The incident ray and reflected ray lie on the opposite
sides of normal, they are all on one plane.
The law of reflection states that when a light ray
incident a surface, the angle between the incident
ray and the normal is equal to the angle between
the reflected ray and the normal.
“Normal” is the line that is perpendicular to the
surface, in the diagram it is the straight dotted
line.
Types of Mirrors: Plane, Concave, Convex
Plane mirror are the mirrors that we see everyday, it is a flat surface and the surface is a plane. This type of
mirror has no curvature.
- Object height and image height are the same
- Laterally inverted (left and right swapped)
Images are always virtual (they are formed on the other side of the mirror
Concave mirror: It is a type of mirror that has curvature but on the inside of the curve.
It is converging, this means that a bunch of parallel light rays are reflected in the mirror, and they
will converge and intersect at the Focal point.
The straight black line is known as the principal axis.
C is the center of the curvature (it is in
F is the focus / focal point
P is the pole
FP = focal length (f)CP = Radius
f = r / 2 OR ||||| R = 2 f
Convex mirror: It is a mirror that has a
curvature on the outside surface. This type of
mirror has the light rays diverging. This means
that if the parallel rays hit the surface, it will
diverge from the focal point.
Lenses: Converging Lens (Convex Lens): It is a type of lens where it is thicker in the center, when set of
parallel rays hit, they converge, this creates a
focus.
Formed at infinity Magnified Real Inverted
Concave Lens (Diverging Lens): It is a type of lens that is thinner in the centre. Just like convex mirrors,
when a set of parallel light rays hit the lens, they diverge.
This creates a focus on the same side of the lens. It never
forms a real image. It is always virtual as it forms the image
on the same side. (IR side)
Whenever image is at infinity it is diminished to a point and
the extended rays will meet at F.
Whenever the object is between infinity and F, the extended
rays will be formed between the optical center and the focal
point
Real image is formed on the screen, virtual image is formed
inside the screen
Real image is formed on the other side of the lens (other
side of where the object is), Virtual image will be formed on the same side as the object (same side of the
lens).
One property of all waves is called diffraction. It happens in the same transparent medium.d It is the
spreading of a wave when it travels through an opening or a small obstacle. Wavefronts move from left to
right and when it hits an obstacle, the part hitting the object will reflect right? No it wont, that is what we
will expect because of the past concepts covered. Lets take water as an example, when the wavefronts in
water hit an obstacle the wavefronts will spread and form back together after hitting the obstacle.
If there is a huge gap of maybe 10cm, the wavefronts wont be at maximum diffraction, if we decrease the
gap by a signficiant amount, the waves will look like the second image above. Or in simple terms, the waves
will spread out in the edges whether they go through a gap or pass an object.
Diffraction happens best when the wavelength = size of gap.
What is interference?
when waves are flowing in a medium, and there are two openings, it will form 2 diffracted ways and as they
propagate further, they will interfere with each other and overlap. When it is interfering further away from
the opening the 2 diffracted waves will become one wave. Once the wave hits the openings the amplitudes
of the waves are different as it is 2 separate diffracted waves, but as they pass through each other the
amplitudes are combined. So the intensity of the amplitude will increase.
Superposition is the process that happens when two waves meet each other. It is the addition of two or more
waves passing simultaneously through a medium, IT IS ALSO CALLED INTERFERENCE
Constructive Interference: If the waves match, meaning both having crest or trough, the amplitudes will add
together.
Destructive interference: If the waves DO NOT match, and have a crest AND a trough, the amplitudes are
added, but one is negative, so they are subtracted, the amplitudes will decrease.