Name: ______________________! ! !

Class teacher: _________________

Does light always travel in straight lines?

Objectives:

Explain to Disco Stu what happens when light hits an object. Describe the
law of reflection, what refraction is, how a rainbow is created, what filters
are and how the work, and why coloured objects appear coloured to our
eyes.

What is a luminous object?

What evidence is there that light travels in straight lines?

Circle the objects that are transparent. Put a tick next to the objects that are
translucent and underline the objects that are opaque.
 Drawing Ray Diagrams

It is night-time and the desk lamp is on. Light shines onto the key.

(a)! (i)! Draw one ray of light on the diagram to show the light shining from the
lamp onto the key. Use a ruler.
Put an arrow on the ray to show the direction of the light.
2 marks

(ii)! There is a patch of light on the wall. This light has been reflected
from the key. Draw a reflected ray of light on the diagram.
Use a ruler.
1 mark

(b)! There is a dark shadow on the table beside the mug.

Explain how this shadow is formed.

....................................................................................................................

....................................................................................................................
1 mark
Maximum 4 marks

Reflection

What is the Law of Reflection?

 Refraction

Draw a diagram to show what happens when light hits a glass block

Explain what causes refraction

What level do you think your explanation is?

Dispersion and Creating a Spectrum

Draw a diagram to show the spectrum being made using a glass prism

What is the order of the spectrum?

What causes this to occur?

 Question

1! Complete the rays on the drawings below.

a b

c d e

2! Put a tick by the correct diagram.

A B

C D
 Adding Colours of Light

What are the primary colours?

1.
2.
3.

What are the secondary colours?

1.
2.
3.

What is the tertiary colour?

Complete the table:

Primary Colours Secondary Colour Made

red & green

red & blue

green & blue

!
! Write down the colour which is made when these lights overlap.

! !

! !!
!

!
 Filters

Filters Red Blue Green Yellow Cyan Magenta

Red

Blue

Green

Yellow

Cyan

Magenta

How does a primary coloured filter work?

How does a secondary coloured filter work?

!
Reflection from a Coloured Surface

light
white red blue green yellow magenta cyan
object

white

black

red

blue

green

yellow

magenta

cyan
 What happens to light when it hits a coloured object? (There are several rules)

Question
Ellie is an actress. She is wearing a coloured top on stage. It has squares coloured
blue, red and green.
a! What colours will Ellie see on her top if she is standing in white light?

b! What colours will she see if she is standing in light from a green light and a
red light at the same time?

c! What colours will she see if she is only standing in a blue light?

d! Ellie is lit by a single spotlight. It has a blue filter and a green filter in front of
the lamp.
i! Which coloured light will actually be shining on Ellie?

ii! What colour will Ellieʼs top appear to the audience?

What do the following mean?

• Reflection

• Refraction

• Dispersion

• Absorption
!
Extension Question

1. Chlorophyll gives leaves their green colour. It is an important part of photosynthesis.

Gilly did some photosynthesis experiments with different coloured lights.
She obtained the different colours by putting filters between some pondweed, in a
beaker of water, and a white light. She counted the number of bubbles of oxygen that
the pondweed produced every minute. This table shows Gillyʼs results.
Colour of light used Number of bubbles per minute
White 37
Red 24
Green 0
Blue 34

a! Explain why the number of bubbles produced in green light is zero.

b! Why does white light give the most bubbles?

c! Which single colour can plants use most successfully?

d! Gilly noticed that the pondweed beaker became quite warm, on the side nearest to
the lamp.
i! Why is this a problem?

ii! What could Gilly do to solve the problem?

e! Gilly was not very careful about where she put the lamp but it was always between
0.25 and 0.5 metres from the beaker.
Explain why this might be a different problem from the warming.

2. When white light is dispersed by a prism a spectrum is obtained on a screen. Jim

passes a beam of pure blue light through a prism.
a! Describe what Jim would see on the screen.
b! Explain your answer.