Master of Arts in Teaching Science

Presented by:

MARIA VICTORIA CASERIA

Master of Arts in Teaching Science
 Nature of Light
• a form of energy (also known as radiant
energy)
• transverse, electromagnetic wave that
are visible to human’s eyes
• can travel through an empty space or
vacuum
• travels in a straight line in one medium
• also known as visible light to contrast it
from "ultraviolet light" and "infrared light"
 Nature of Light

• speed of light in a vacuum is at

299,792,458 m/s or approximately 3.0 x
108 m/s (A.A. Michelson)
• speed of light depends upon the medium
through which it travels.
• white light can be dispersed into different
colors known as color spectrum
(ROYGBIV)
• particle-wave duality (Louis de Broglie)
Dispersion of Light

The splitting up of white light

into seven colors on passing through
a transparent medium like a glass
prism is called as dispersion of
white light. Visible light is actually
made up of different colors. The band
of colors produced by light when
dispersed by a prism is called a
color spectrum.
Dispersion of Light
Dispersion of Light

Each color bends by a different

amount when refracted by glass.
That's why visible light is split, or
dispersed, into different colors when
it passes through a lens or prism.
Shorter wavelength, like violet, bend
the most. Longer wavelength, like
red light, bend the least.
Dispersion of Light
 Reflection of Light

When light rays traveling in a

medium reaches the boundary of
other medium, they turn back to the
first medium. This phenomenon of
turning back of light into the same
medium after striking the boundary of
other medium is called reflection of
light.
Reflection of Light
 Laws of Reflection

1. The angle of incident is equal to the

angle of reflection i.e. <i = <r
2. The incident ray, the reflected ray
and the normal lie on the same plane.
Two Types of Reflection

1. Regular Reflection
When a beam of parallel light
rays is incident on a smooth and
plane surface, the reflected rays will
also be parallel.
Two Types of Reflection

2. Irregular or Diffused Reflection

A beam of parallel rays incident
on the surface will reflect in different
directions.
Reflection of Light
 Refraction of Light

Refraction, or bending of
light, occurs as light passes from
one medium into another medium
with a different refractive index. Light
travels faster in a less optically
dense medium than in a denser one.
 Refraction of Light

Refraction is an important
characteristic of lenses, allowing
them to focus a beam of light onto a
single point, and is also responsible
for a variety of familiar phenomena,
such as the apparent distortion of
objects partially submerged in water.
Refraction of Light
 Laws of Refraction

1. The incident ray, the refracted ray,

and the normal to the interface, all lie
in the same plane.
2. Snell’s Law: “For the given two
media, whatever the direction of the
incident light, the ratio of the sine of
the angle of incidence (sin i) to the
sine of the angle of refraction (sin r) is
the index of refraction n.”
 Laws of Refraction

n = sin i/ sin r = v1/ v2 or

sin i/ sin r = n2/ n1

n1 sin θ1 = n2 sin θ2
where θ1 is the angle subtended
between the incident ray and the
normal to the interface, and θ2 is the
angle subtended between the refracted
ray and the normal to the interface.
 Laws of Refraction

The quantities n1 and n2 are termed

for the refractive indices of media 1
and 2, respectively.
Thus, the law of refraction
predicts that a light ray always
deviates more towards the normal in
the optically denser medium: i.e., the
medium with the higher refractive
index.
Laws of Refraction
 Laws of Refraction

Light travels faster in a less

optically dense medium than in an
optically denser one. As a consequence,
light is bent towards the normal as it
moves from the less optically dense
medium to the optically denser one. A
medium’s optical density determines the
speed of light in that medium. A
measure of the optical density of a
material is its index of refraction.
 Laws of Refraction

The index of refraction of a material is

the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum
to the speed of light in the material or
n = speed of light in vacuum = c
speed of light in material v
Thus, the higher a medium’s optical
density, the higher its index of refraction.
The index of refraction indicates the
extent of the bending of light ray.
Refraction of Light
Total Internal Reflection

Total internal reflection occurs

if, as light passes from a dense to a
less dense medium, its angle of
incidence is greater than the critical
angle. Thus, the refracted ray cannot
get out of the boundary between the
two different media (trapping of
light). This phenomenon is applied in
fiber optics and diamond cutting.
Total Internal Reflection
 Diffraction of Light
Diffraction is the slight bending of
light as it passes around the edge of an
object or small openings. The amount of
bending depends on the relative size of the
wavelength of light to the size of the
opening. If the opening is much larger than
the light's wavelength, the bending will be
almost unnoticeable. However, if the two
are closer in size or equal, the amount of
bending is considerable, and easily seen
with the naked eye.
Diffraction of Light
Interference of Light

Wave interference is a
phenomenon that occurs when two
waves meet while traveling along the
same medium. The interference of
waves causes the medium to take on
a shape that results from the net effect
of the two individual waves upon the
particles of the medium. Wave
interference can be constructive or
destructive in nature.
Two Types of Interference

1. Constructive Interference
When a crest of one wave meets
a crest of another wave, or when a
trough meets another trough,
constructive interference occurs. This
results in higher amplitude of the
resultant wave.
Two Types of Interference

2. Destructive Interference
When a crest meets a trough,
destructive interference occurs,
resulting in the cancellation of the
wave.
Interference of Light
Polarization of Light
Polarization is a process by which
a transverse wave is made to vibrate in
one direction only.
The most common method of
polarization involves the use of
a Polaroid filter. Polaroid filters are
made of a special material that is
capable of blocking one of the two
planes of vibration of an
electromagnetic wave.
Polarization of Light
 Color

Color may be defined as a

property of light waves which depends
on their frequency and wavelength.
The colors of objects are the result of
the interaction of light with the
materials. The color of opaque objects
is the color they reflect and which
reaches our eyes. On the other hand,
the colors of transparent materials are
the colors they transmit.
How do our eyes
perceived colors?
 How do our eyes
perceived colors?
Our eye has a retina that composed of
special cells called rods and cones. Rods
are very sensitive but cannot detect color.
Cones, however, are sensitive to color and
enable us to distinguish color.
Chemicals in the cones are sensitive to
red, green, and blue light, the primary
colors. Each cone is sensitive to a particular
primary color. When a mixture of different
colors of light enters the eye, we see mixture
as a single color.
How do our eyes
perceived colors?
Color of Opaque Objects

When white light falls on an

opaque object which does not transmit
light, one of the three things happens:
1. If all the colors in white light are
reflected, the object appears white.
2. If some of the colors are reflected, the
object appears colored.
3. If all the colors are absorbed by the
object and no colors of white light are
reflected, the object appears black.
Color of Transparent Objects

Transparent materials such as

colored plastics, cellophane, or glass are
used as filters of light. In theaters, they are
placed over spotlights to produce any
desired color. These materials adopt the
color subtraction. When white light is
passed through a colored filter, a number of
colors are removed. For example, when
green filter is used, it allows green to pass
through and some blue and a little yellow
colors.
Color Subtraction

R
O
Y
G
B
I
V
Color Combinations in Light
Color Combinations in
Pigments and Dyes
 Rainbow
Rainbow is formed due to
dispersion, reflection, and refraction of
light rays from the sun. When the sun’s
rays strike drops of water, a color spectrum
(ROYGBIV) can be formed. The drops of
water act as prism where white light is
disperse into different colors carrying
different wavelengths and frequencies.
Colors of a primary rainbow follows the
sequence of red - orange - yellow - green -
blue - indigo - violet.
 Rainbow
As a ray of light enters the water drop, it
is first refracted and then dispersed in a water
drop. When light rays are internally reflected
once, a primary rainbow is formed.
 Rainbow

Double internal reflection will result to

formation of larger rainbow or secondary
rainbow but with the red and violet colors
reversed. Because of the two internal
reflection within the falling raindrops, more
light is absorbed; as a result, the
secondary rainbow is always fainter than
the primary. In most cases, the upper arc
is the secondary rainbow and the lower arc
is the primary rainbow.
 Blue Sky

Most of the color formations are

the result of subtraction and addition
of light. In the blue sky, the blue color
is a result from selective scattering of
the colors of light from the sun by
gas molecules in the atmosphere
(Rayleigh scattering effect). The color
scattered by these molecules
depends on the size of the molecules
themselves.
 Blue Sky

Our atmosphere is chiefly made

up of nitrogen and oxygen molecules.
These molecules have the property to
scatter colors based on their
wavelengths. Among the different
colors in white light from the sun,
violet is scattered the most by oxygen
and nitrogen molecules because it
has the shortest wavelength.
 Blue Sky

The least deviated color is red

because it has the longest
wavelength. Since our eyes are most
sensitive to the primary colors red,
green and blue (RGB), the violet color
will be hardly recognized by the cones
of the eye’s retina predominating the
blue color over the violet. This
scattering effect explained the
phenomenon of blue sky.
 Red Sunset
Red sunset follows the rule of color
subtraction. As the day progresses, the sun
moves lower in the sky resulting longer
path of light to travel in the atmosphere
going to the Earth. Sunsets are reddened
because for sun positions which are very
low or just below the horizon.
Consequently, the light passing at grazing
incidence upon the earth passes through a
greater thickness of air than when it is
overhead like noon time.
 Red Sunset

As a result, more and more blue

and violet colors are scattered in the
atmosphere. The removal of violet
and blue colors leaves light that
reaches the Earth’s surface redder
and redder. Just before the sun
disappears from view, its actual
position is about a diameter below the
horizon, the light having been bent
by refraction to reach our eyes.
 Red Sunset
Since short wavelengths are more
efficiently scattered by Rayleigh
scattering, more of them are scattered
out of the beam of sunlight like violet,
indigo, and blue lights, before it
reaches our eyes. The sun progresses
color from yellow to orange and finally
to red at sunset.
This phenomenon can also be
seen at sunrise.
White and Dark Cloud
Clouds are made up of many small
water drops and ice crystals of different sizes.
A water droplet or ice crystal inside clouds is
sufficiently large to strongly scatter light of all
colors in different wavelengths. Since light
undergoes multiple scattering between
numerous water droplets or ice crystals in all
direction and they are weakly absorbing to
visible light of all wavelengths, the scattered
light of all wavelengths constitutes the white
color of clouds that we observe.
White and Dark Cloud

The color of scattered light depends

on the size of the particles. The smallest
clusters scatter blue light resulting in blue
clouds; the medium– sized clusters scatter
green light resulting in green clouds; and
the largest ones scatter red light resulting in
red clouds. Since a cloud composed of a
combination of different-sized clusters of
water droplets, the combinations of these
colors result in white cloud.
White and Dark Cloud

As a cloud grows thicker forming

larger clusters of droplets, more sunlight is
reflected from it and less light can penetrate
through it. Since little sunlight reaches the
underside of the cloud, less light is
scattered, and the cloud base appears
grey. Moreover, if the water droplets near
the cloud base grow larger, they become
less effective scatterers and more effective
absorbers and reflectors.
White and Dark Cloud

As such, for a thick rain-bearing

cloud, most sunlight is either reflected
or absorbed before reaching the cloud
base. With much less light reaching
the observer on the ground below, the
cloud looks greyish and dark before
rain begins to fall. Further increase in
size of the clusters causes them to fall
as raindrops resulting to rain.
 References
• http://eo.ucar.edu/rainbows/
• http://www.citycollegiate.com/chapter14_Xa.htm
• http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/blusky.html
• http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/redsun.html
• http://farside.ph.utexas.edu/teaching/302l/lectures/node128.html
• http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/optics/lightandcolor/refraction.html
• http://www.weather.gov.hk/education/edu06nature/ele_cloudcolours_
e.htm
• http://amazing_space.stsci.edu/resources/explorations/groundup/less
on/glossary/term-full.php?t=dispersion
• Navaza, Delia C. and Bienvenido J. Valdes. You and the Natural
world Series - Physics. 2nd ed. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing
House, Inc., 1996
• University of the Philippines National Institute for Science and
Mathematics Education Development. Physics - Science and
Technology Textbook for Fourth Year, rev. ed. Mandaluyong City:
Book Media Press, Inc., 2004