OPTICS [LIGHT AND WAVES]

Sub Units:
 Nature of lights; reflection of light at the plane surface.
 Reflection of light at the curved surface
 Refraction, dispersion, and color.
 Lenses and optical instrument.
 General wave properties.
 Sound waves.

ITEM ANALYSIS.
ITEM 1
In a certain music concert that took place at the shore at night, a man played a guitar on a
floating stage surrounded by disco light flashing red, blue and green in the middle of the lake.
The audience on the boat and the shores were wearing yellow clothes with black spots on them.
The audience were surprised about the new appearance of the color of their clothes. The sound
wave from the guitar travel through air with the frequency of 440Hz. The organizer also
projected laser light, that travel through air with a frequency of 470MHz illuminating waves
on the lake surface to aid visibility. The shores of the lake were 15m aware from a tall building.
Two boys A and B standing in the same direction and in line with the playing music from the
lake heard the sound at different interval of time which attracted them to go and observe what
was taking place at the lake. Boy A heard the sound after 3s and boy B heard the sound after
4s.
Hint:
 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑖𝑟 = 330𝑚𝑠 −1 , 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 = 3.0 𝑥 108 𝑚𝑠 −1
Task:
As a physics student,
(a) Help the two boys to understand why they heard the sound at different interval.
Estimating the distances of the two boys
Boy A Boy B
𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚; 𝑑 = 𝑠 𝑥 𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚; 𝑑 = 𝑠 𝑥 𝑡
𝑠 = 330, 𝑡 = 3, 𝑑 = ? ? 𝑠 = 330, 𝑡 = 4, 𝑑 = ? ?
𝑑 = (330 𝑥 3) 𝑑 = (330 𝑥 4)
𝑑 = 990 𝑚 𝑑 = 1320 𝑚
From the calculation, the two boys were at different distances from source of sound.

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 (b) Clearly explain why the color of the clothes of the audience kept on changing when the
colored light flashed on them.

 Yellow is obtain from Red + Green.

 In red disco light, the cloth appears red.
 In green disco light, the cloth appears green.
 In blue disco light, the cloth appears black.
 This is because the yellow clothes act as
filters and reflect the red and green which
are constituent colors and absorbed the blue
light completely.

(c) Why was laser source of light preferred to provide laser light that enhanced visibility
late in the night.

 Laser light have a very high frequency which correspond to high energy density.
 The high energy density forms a more intense light hence enhancing visibility.

(d) Compare the wavelength of the sound waves and laser light waves in air medium.

Sound waves Laser waves

𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑣 = 𝑓𝜆 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑣 = 𝑓𝜆
𝑣 = 330, 𝑓 = 440, 𝜆 =? ? 𝑣 = 3.0 𝑥 108 , 𝑓 = 4.7 𝑥 108 𝑥 , 𝜆 =? ?
330 = 440𝜆 3.0 𝑥 108 = 4.7 𝑥 108 𝜆
𝜆 = 0.75 𝑚 𝜆 = 0.638 𝑚
The wave length of sound wave is longer than the laser light wave.

ITEM 2
A war erupted in a certain mountainous (hilly) areas surrounded by small water bodies where
soldiers only communicated by throwing a stone in the water to alert their colleagues of danger
ahead. Instead, this alerted their enemies as well. One of the soldier had small sizeable plane
mirror and thorn paper box in his bag. Their leader sent spies to peep behind the hills to see if
the enemies were hiding there but many were captured and killed. The soldier had a radio call
that was used for communication to the home based headquarter. The wave forms of
wavelength were produced on the receiver’s computer clearly indicating the amplitude, period
and time taken for the waves to reach. One afternoon, it threatened to rain and the bright colors
of different kind spread in the skies. This scared the soldier even more.

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Hint:
A graph obtained from receiver’s computer

Task:
As a physics student, help the soldier to;
(a) Understand why the throwing of the stone in water always alerted their enemies.

 Throwing stone in water displaces some water molecules.

 This creates pressure waves with compressions and rare factions in forms of ripples.
 The pressure waves propagates on the surface of the water and the surrounding air
medium as sound waves.
 The sound waves radiates in all directions. This enables the enemies to hear as well.

(b) Know the best way they could reduce the rate at which their spies were being captured
and killed.
 The best way the soldiers can reduce the death is by using simple periscope.

 A light ray from the enemies behind the hill strike plane mirror M1 inclined at angle
450 and it’s reflected along the axis of narrow tube.
 The reflected light ray is then reflected on another plane mirror M2 also inclined at 450
which is then reflected further to the observing soldier.
 The final image of the enemies is the same way up as the enemies behind the hills.
 This will allow the soldier to know about their enemies without being killed.

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(c) Understand the strange appearance of the skies that sent them into hid outs.

 The strange appearance is the rainbow formed.

 It’s formed when the light drizzles are in the opposite side to the sun.
 The small water droplets acts as a small prisms
 A light rays from the sun, is refracted as it enter the droplets.
 The refracted rays then undergo total internal reflections on the opposite side of the
droplet.
 As the rays emerges out its then refracted again forming the spectrum of light which
was observed.

(d) Determine the frequency at which the waves reached the receiver computer at the home
base.

𝑛
𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚; 𝑓 =
𝑡
𝑛 = 2, 𝑡 = 8
2 1
𝑓= = = 0.25 𝐻𝑧
8 4
 Therefore the frequency at receiver’s computer is 0.25Hz

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ITEM 3
On a sunny-hot day, a farmer from his garden carrying some maize and moving towards a tall
wide tree to take shelter, hears an explosion of a seed near him and after a short period of time,
he hears another similar successive explosion which appears to come from the tree. On his way
very thirsty, he notices a pool of water in front which appears to move away from him as he
approaches it. On reaching the tree, he realized that the tree does not contain explosive seeds.
A farmer fond a glass under the tree and thought of setting fire to roast his maize using the
glass, he later fell asleep till dark. The fire was lit successfully when the glass was 20 cm from
the dry grasses. At night his good friend started looking for him, with a torch and discovered
that a farmer was putting on black shirt with yellow spots at night. The appearance of the cloth
left the two bewildered.
Hint:
 The glass is curved outward on both sides.
 A farmer’s cloth was blue with red spots during day time.
 The second sound was heard after 1.8s
 The speed of sound in air is 330ms-1
Task:
As a student of physics;
(a)
(i) Help the farmer to know why he hears two similar sounds.
 The first sound was due to actual explosion of the seed.
 The second sound was due to the reflection of explosion from the big tree. (Echoes).
(ii) Write down two natural phenomena that resulted into the appearance of the pool
of water that was seen by a farmer.
 Refraction
 Total internal reflection
(b) Describe to a farmer how, the
(i) Pool of water appear in front of him.
 The pool of water that appeared in front of the farmer is a mirage.

Skies
Light ray

Pool of water

 During hot day the air close to the land is hot and less dense as compared to those
toward the skies.
 Light ray travelling from a point in the skies is gradually refracted away from the
normal line as it reached the ground.
 When the incident angle exceed the critical angle at the same layer, then the light ray
undergo total internal reflection.
 This make the ray to start traveling upward and towards the farmer (observer.
 The farmer sees the virtual image of the skies as pool of water.

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 (ii) Glass managed to burn the grasses.
 The glass talked about is Concave lens

 When it’s directed to the sun, parallel light rays from the sun is incident a many
different points.
 The parallels rays are then refracted to a single point called the focal point leading to
high intensity.
 Resulting into the transformation of light into heat which is sufficient to burn the grass.

(c) Help a farmer’s friend to clear their bewilderment about the shirt.

 Yellow color is a mixture of red and green.

 The farmer friend had a torch that produce green light.
 When the green light fall on the blue shirt, it’s absorbed completely forming black
color.
 When the green light falls on the red spot forms additional color to red giving rise to
yellow spots appearance.

(d) Using calculations and giving appropriate reason(s) where necessary, what is the;
(i) Power of the glass
1
𝑃= ,
𝑓
1
𝑃= = −5𝐷
0.2
 the power of the glass is -5D
 its negative because the glass is concave lens

(ii) Distance from the tree to where the farmers heard the first explosion.
2𝑥
𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑣 =
𝑡
𝑣 = 330, 𝑡 = 1.8, 𝑥 =? ?
2𝑥
330 =
1.8
𝑥 = 297𝑚

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ITEM 4
A certain tycoon is intending to construct a first class hotel in your community. As he was
consulting from the technical persons, he was given the following guidelines;
 Swimming pool should be having label on its depth at different points to avoid relying
on a deceptive look.
 The multipurpose hall must have a soft wall or use curtains along the wall.
 The entrance with security personnel should strictly have white light as the inside may
have any LED lights for decorations.
 The security personnel should have a device to check under the cars entering the hotel,
as a way of ensuring hotel security
The tycoon is not knowledgeable about the importance of such guidelines in his upcoming
investment and is seeking for explanations.
Task:
Using the knowledge of physics, help the tycoon to;
(a) The cause of deceptive look.
 As light rays move from the point at the bottom of the pool, it undergo refraction at the
air water boundary

 The rays are refracted away from the normal and so the point O at the bottom appear
to be shallow at point I as the refracted rays enter the eyes.
 This make the pool to appear to be shallow hence causing the deceptive look on the
depth of the pool.
(b) The reason behind multipurpose hall having a soft wall and curtains.
 Soft walls or curtains absorbed most of the sound waves incident onto it.
 This minimize the amount of reflected waves in the halls, and reverberation of sound
hence the sound become clear in the hall.
(c) Why the entrance must have white lights and how decoration on individuals is attained
from inside the hall.
 White light is a complementary light (composed of all colors).
 The cloth of any person entering will absorbed all colors in white and only reflect the
color only.
 This enable the security personnel to easily identify the cloth colors of people entering.
 Decoration on individual inside is achieved using bulb of colored light.

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  As the colored light fall on the cloth of a person their cloth colors changes depending
on the color falling. As the color of the bulb keeps changing the color of cloth also keep
changing which make it attractive and a good decoration.
(d) Which kind of materials are needed in making the device used for checking under the
cars entering the hotel.
 Reflecting materials such as polycarbonate
 Backing materials such as plastic.
 Frame such as metal or aluminum rod.
ITEM 5
During the music gala in a hall, one of the adjudicators observed the following;
 The color of cloth of the presenters changed from yellow dress with blue dots to red
dress with black dots on entering the stage.
 The sound from the nearest speaker reached him after 0.05s
 He kept on hearing the voices of two people singing yet he was seeing only one person
on the stage.
Hint:
 The speed of sound in air = 320ms-1
Task:
Using the knowledge of physics help the adjudicator to understand;
(a) Why color of the cloth changed
 The light flashed to the stage was red light.
 The yellow dress reflect the red color and the blue dot absorb the red light hence
appearing black.
(b) Why the sound was reaching him after 0.05s
𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚; 𝑑 = 𝑠 𝑥 𝑡
𝑠 = 320, 𝑡 = 0.05, 𝑑 =? ?
𝑑 = (320 𝑥 0.05)
𝑑 = 16 𝑚
 This is because the adjudicator was 16 m away from the nearby speaker
(c) The origin of the second voice and how it can be minimized.
 Second sound due to echo.
Ways of minimizing echoes:
 Covering walls with soft materials
 Putting curtains in the hall
 Covering the floor with soft carpet or woolen carpet
 Using sofa chairs
 Using sound absorbing tiles.
 Etc.

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ITEM 6
On a hot afternoon, some learners walked along a tarmac in the west ward direction to check
on a new swimming pool. On the road, they saw a speeding car at a distance and its engine
sounds kept on reducing as it moved further away. They also saw what looked like water near
the car; but the water disappeared when they reached the spot where they had seen it and it
reappeared to another spot ahead. Later on, they observed a semi - circular distribution of colors
in the sky. They finally reached the swimming pool, however the pool attendant warned them
to be careful when they are to use the swimming pool because it may appear shallow when
filled with water. The adventure ended in argument because the learners had different views
about the observations and experiences they had that day.

Task:
Use the knowledge of physics to assist the learners to understand;
(a) Why the sound they had from the car kept on reducing.
 Inverse square law, the sound intensity of the engine decrease with increase in the
distance of travel.
 Atmospheric absorption, as sound travel they lose energy due to absorption by air
molecules. This lose in energy increase with distance.
 Obstacles and environmental factors, trees, building and other obstacles block or
reflect the sound waves making it to reduce or seem quieter.

(b) The process that led to what they observed on the tarmac.
 Formation of mirage as earlier seen.
(c) The process that led to what they observed in the sky.
 Formation of rainbow as earlier seen
(d) Why swimming pool appears the way the attendant told them.
 Formation of rainbow as earlier seen

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ITEM 7
In a town, there is a woman who uses loud horn speakers to broadcast various information to
the community. She has received the following concerns from the members of her community.
 Listeners at different locations have noticed a difference in time in which the sound
reached them.
 People who are at far distance are unable to receive the information broadcast by the
speaker.
 People are complaining about too much noise from the speakers, some of whom are not
interested at all in what is being broadcast.
Because of these concerns, the town council leadership has advised the woman to set up a
broadcasting station and the broadcasting authorities allocated her radio frequency of 87.8 MHz
She is ready to take up the advice, only that she lack enough knowledge.

Hint:
 The speed of light = 3.0 x 108 ms-1
Task:
Using the knowledge of physics, assist the woman to;
(a) Differentiate between the type of waves produced by her current system and those
produced by the system proposed by the town council leadership.

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(b) Understand why the new method will not cause noise pollution.

 Broadcasting station only transmit information via radio wave which are picked up by
radios tuned to 87.8 MHz
 Only people tuned to 87.8 MHz will receive the broadcast, hence reducing the unwanted
noise from others.

(c) Understand why the new system of broadcasting is able to reach those who are far
away and they get the broadcast almost instantly.

 New system broadcast radio signal that travel at a speed of 3.0 x 108 m which is
incredibly high speed.
 Radio waves covers large distance instantaneously, so listeners from far end
receive the broadcast with negligible delay.

(d) Determine the wavelength of the waves used in broadcasting in the new system.
𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑣 = 𝑓𝜆
𝑣 = 3.0 𝑥 10 , 𝑓 = 8.78 𝑥 107 𝑥 , 𝜆 =? ?
8

3.0 𝑥 108 = 8.78 𝑥 107 𝜆

𝜆 = 3.417 𝑚
 The wavelength of the waves is 3.417 m

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