PHYSICS

Chapter 8: Light and Optics

Section 8A: Light and Refraction

 Electromagnetic Waves (EM)
 Oscillating electric and magnetic fields that
travel at speed of light
Electromagnetic Spectrum
 Speed and Nature of Light
c = 299,792,458 m/s ≈ 3 x 108 m/s

 Nature of Light:
 Wave-Particle Duality
 Color and Vision

 When all the colors of the rainbow are combined, we do

not see any particular color.
 We see light without any color.
 We call this combination of all the colors of light "white
light".
Color and Vision

 The eye only sees

in blue green and
red colors
 Other colors are too
high or low energy
How the human eye sees
color

 The retina in the back

of the eye contains
photoreceptors.
 Receptors release
chemical signals.
 Chemical signals
travel to the brain
along the optic nerve.
optic nerve
Photoreceptors in the eye

 Cones: red, green

and blue.
 Rods intensity of
light: black, white,
shades of gray.
How we see colors

 If the brain gets

a signal from
ONLY green
cones, we see
green.
 How we see other colors

 All the different

shades of color we
can see are made
by changing the
proportions of red,
green, and blue.
 How we see the color of things
Two processes:
1. The light can be emitted
directly from the object,
like a light bulb or glow
stick.
2. The light can come from
somewhere else, like the
sun, and we see the
objects by reflected light.
 How we see the color of
things
 Colored fabrics and paints
get color from a subtractive
process.
 pigments absorb some
colors
 the color you actually see
is reflected.
 Magenta, yellow, and cyan
are the three subtractive
primary colors.
 Using coloured light
 If we look at a colored object in colored
light we see something different. For
example, consider the outfit below – I
mean, from a physics standpoint, not
as a fashion choice:
Shirt looks red
White
light

Shorts look blue

 In different colors of light this kit would look different:

Red
Shirt looks red
light

Shorts look black

Shirt looks black

Blue
light

Shorts look blue

Using filters
 Filters can be used to “block” out different colors of light:

Red
Filter

Magenta
Filter
 Why are
plants green?

 Plants absorb energy

from light and convert it
to chemical energy in the
form of sugar (food for
the plant).
 Chlorophyll is an
important molecule that
absorbs blue and red
light.
 16.2 How does a color TV
work?
 Televisions give off light.
 To make color with a TV, you can use red, green, and
blue (RGB) directly.
 The screen is made of tiny
red, green, and blue dots.
 The dots are called pixels
and each pixel gives off
its own light.
 TV sets can mix the three
colors to get millions of
different colors.
Application: Color Printing
 Refraction
 Light changes speeds in different mediums
causing light to bend
 Wavelength changes, frequency does not

Boundary
Refraction
 Refraction
 Slower  towards normal
 Faster  away from normal

Slower Faster
 Bending Light
 Objects appear to be in different position
Bending Light
Bending Light
 Index of Refraction Equation
Ratio of SOL in a vacuum to SOL in the medium

𝑐
𝑛=
𝑣

 n  index of refraction (no unit)

 c  speed in vacuum (3 x 108 m/s)
 v  speed in medium (m/s)
 In-Class Problem #1
Light travels through a sugar solution at 0.67 c.
Determine (a) the index of refraction of the
sugar solution and (b) the frequency of the ray
of light if the wavelength is 395 nm.

n = 1.49
f = 5.09 x 1014 Hz
Part 2 - Reflection
 Reflection from a
mirror:
Normal

Incident ray Reflected ray

Angle of Angle of
incidence reflection

Mirror
  The Law of Reflection

Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection

In other words, light gets reflected from a surface at THE

SAME ANGLE it hits it.

The same !!!