Grade 11 Physics Notes Page 1 of 31

LIGHT

Rectilinear propagation of light

 Light rays from an object travel in straight lines and in all directions.

Experiment

Aim

 To show that light travels in straight lines.

Materials

 3 small pieces of cardboard

 Putty
 A torch
 A hole punch
Procedure

Set up an experiment as shown in the diagram (a) below:

1. See what happens to the light at the end of the third card.
2. Now move the middle card lightly to one side so that holes do not line up as
shown in (b) above.
Observations

1. A single, narrow beam of light is seen at the end of the third card before
moving the middle card.
2. No light is seen after moving the middle card.

Conclusion

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 The observations above prove that light travels in straight lines.

The formation of shadows and eclipses

Shadows

 When light meets an opaque object, they form shadows behind that object.
 This is because light cannot pass through an opaque object.
 Opaque is the quality of a material that does not allow light to pass through it. e.g. a
ball.
 When light meets a transparent object, it passes through completely without forming a
shadow.
 This is because a transparent object allows light to pass through it completely.
 Transparent is the quality a material that allows light to pass through it completely.
e.g. glass.
 Translucent is a quality of a material that allows some light to pass through it. e.g.
cloth.
Umbra

 Umbra is the dark and fully shaded part of a shadow that is cast by an opaque object.
Penumbra

 Penumbra is the partially shaded outer part of a shadow that is cast by an opaque
object.

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Solar eclipses

 Solar eclipse occurs when the moon moves between the sun and the earth.

Lunar eclipse

 Lunar eclipse occurs when the earth moves between the sun and the moon.

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Reflection of light

 Reflection of light is the bouncing back of light from the shine surface.
 Ray is a narrow beam of light.
 Incident ray is the ray that falls on the reflecting surface.
 Reflected ray is the ray that leaves the reflecting surface.
 Point of incidence is the point where the ray strikes the reflecting surface.
 Normal (N) is the imaginary line drawn at right angle to the reflecting surface at the
point of incidence.
 Angle of incidence (i) is the angle between the incident ray and the normal.
 Angle of reflection (r) is the angle between the reflected ray and the normal.

The law of reflection

 The law of reflection states that:

i. The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
ii. The incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal are always in the same plane.

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Experiment

Aim

 To verify the law of reflection using a plane mirror.

Materials

 Cardboard
 White sheet of paper
 Four pins
 Mirror
 Pencil
 Protractor
 Ruler

Procedure

1. Fix the piece of paper to the board

2. Place the mirror vertically on the white sheet of paper and trace its edge.
3. Draw a line at 90o to the edge of the mirror (Normal, N)
4. Measure an angle of incidence of 30o, draw an incident ray and place two pins, P and
Q on this line as shown on the diagram.
5. Move to the other side of the pins and look at the mirror with your eyes as shown in
the diagram.
6. Place two more pins, R and S, to line up with the images of P and Q.
7. Remove pins R and S and join the dots that they made with a straight line to intersect
with the mirror and the normal.
8. Measure and record the angle of reflection.
9. Repeat steps 4, 5, 6 and 7 for angles of 35o, 40o, 45o, 50o and 55o.
10. Record the results in a table.

Angle of incidence 30o 35o 40o 45o 50o 55o

Angle of reflection

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Observations

1. Compare the angles of reflection to the angles of incidence.

Answer:........
2. Observe the incident ray, reflected ray, and the normal.
Answer:.........

Conclusion

1. The angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.

2. The incident ray, reflected ray, and the normal lie in the same plane.

Regular and diffuse reflection

 Regular reflection is the reflection of light off a smooth surface so that the rays are all
reflected at the same angle.
 Diffuse reflection is the reflection of light off a rough surface so that the rays are all
reflected at different angles.

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Grade 11 Physics Notes Page 7 of 31

Formation of images by plane mirrors

Exercise

1. Stand one step away from the mirror.

2. What do we call what you see in the mirror?
3. Is what you see smaller, bigger or the same size as you?
4. How far are you from the mirror?
5. How far is your image from the mirror?
6. Is your image upright or upside down?
7. Take one step backwards. What does your image do?
8. Lift your right hand up. Which hand does the image in the mirror lift up?

Properties of an image formed by a plane mirror

(i) Virtual image (not real)

(ii) Upright image
(iii) Laterally inverted (reversed in terms of right and left)
(iv) The same size as the object
(v) The distance of an image from the mirror equals that of an object from the mirror.

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h o=hi

d o =d i

Exercise

1. A girl of height 1.2 metres stands 4.0 metres in front of a plane mirror as shown in the
following diagram:

How far is the girl away from her image?

2. (a) Define reflection of light.
(b) The following diagram shows a dog and a cat standing in front of a plane mirror.

Using the diagram, show by construction, how the dog sees the cat’s image.
(c) Give two characteristics of the images formed by plane mirrors.

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Grade 11 Physics Notes Page 9 of 31

Refraction of light

 Refraction is the bending of light as it crosses the boundary between two different media.
 Incident ray is the ray that falls on the boundary between the two media.
 Refracted ray is the ray that bends at the boundary.
 The normal is the line drawn at right angles to the boundary.
 The angle of incidence is the angle between the incident ray and the normal.
 The angle of refraction is the angle between the refracted ray and the normal.

Properties of refraction
(a) When light travels from less dense to denser medium:
 Light is refracted towards the normal

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 The speed in the denser medium is slower than that in the less dense medium.

(b) When light travels from denser to less dense medium:

 Light is refracted away from the normal
 The speed in the less dense medium is faster than that in the denser medium.

(c) When light enters another medium at right angle to the boundary
 Light is not bent.
 The speed also changes. It depends on media.

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Refractive index and laws of refraction

Refractive index (n)
 Refractive index (n) is a ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in
the medium.
 Refractive index (n) has no units.
speed of light ∈a vacuum(c)
Refractiveindex (n)=
speed of light ∈a medium (v)
c
n=
v

Example
1. Calculate the speed of light in flint glass (n = 1.91).
The laws of refraction
(i) The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal at the point of incidence all lie in
the same plane.
(ii) (Snell’s law): For two particular media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence
to the sine of the angle of refraction is constant.
sine of angleof incidence (sin i)
Refractiveindex ( n )=
sine of angle of refraction(sin r)
sini
n=
sin r

Example

1. Calculate the angle of incidence when light travels from air to glass. The refractive
index of glass is 1.52 and the angle of refraction is 20o.

Experiment

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Aim

 To verify the laws of refraction.

Materials

 Glass slab
 Cork board
 8 Pins
 Sheets of paper
 Sticky tape
 Protractor
 Pencil
Procedure

1. Fix an A4 sheet of paper on the cork board with four pins at each corner.
2. Place a rectangular glass block horizontally on the paper and trace its boundary corners
A, B, C and D.
3. Remove the glass block and draw an incident ray at 30o to surface AB of the block.
4. Draw the normal (N) at the point of incidence E and fix two pins, P and Q on the
incident ray.
5. Again, place the block within the traced boundary.
6. Kneel down and look through the opposite side of the glass block, fix two more pins R
and S, in such a way that all four pins appear to lie on a straight line.
7. Remove the block and pins. Clearly mark the pin holes in the paper.
8. Join R and S and extend the line up to the side CD at F to represent the ray that leaves
the glass.
9. Join E and F with a straight line. This is the refracted ray.
10. Measure the angle of refraction.
11. Repeat steps 1 to 10 for four different angles of incidence.

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Observations

 Record the data in the table beloww

Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Trial 5
i
r
sin i
sin r
sin i
n=
sin r

1. What is the relationship between the angle of incidence and the angle of refraction?
2. How does the refractive index compare for each measurement taken? Explain how
this observation proves that Snell’s law is correct?
Conclusion

1. The incident ray, the refracted ray and the normal at the point of incidence all lie in
the same plane.
2. In all five readings, the value of n is constant.

Exercise
1. Calculate the angle of refraction when light passes from a vacuum into glass (n =
1.52) for the following angles of incidence.
(a) 30o
(b) 45o
2. Calculate the refractive index for water if the light leaves water at an angle of
incidence of 40o and angle of refraction is 57o.
3. A ray of light travels from air into water at an angle of incidence 60o. Find the angle
of refraction if the refractive index of water is 1.33.
4. The figure below shows a ray of light moving from one medium to another.

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(a) Find the angle of refraction

(b) Calculate the refractive index of medium B.
(c) Which of the two media is denser than the other?
5. The figure below shows a ray of light entering and leaving a glass block.

(a) Name the rays labelled A to D

(b) On the diagram, indicate i and r for angles of incidence and refraction
respectively.
(c) For a certain piece of glass block the angle of incidence was found to be 25° and
angle of refraction was found to be 16°. Using this information, calculate the
refractive index for this piece of glass block to two decimal places.
6. The Figure below shows a ray of light from air to water. The diagram is not drawn
to scale.

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(a) Determine the:

(i) angle of incidence.
(ii) Angle of refraction.
(b) Calculate the refractive index

The real and apparent depth

 The real depth is the distance of an object from the surface of water.
 The apparent depth is the distance of a virtual image from the surface of water.

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 Refractive index (n) is the ratio of the real depth to the apparent depth.
Refractiveindex ( n )=distance of an object ¿ the surface of water ¿ the surface
distance of a virtual image ¿

real depth
n=
apparent depth

Example

1. Calculate the real depth of an object if its apparent depth is 5cm and the refractive
index is 1.91.

Exercise

1. Calculate the speed of light in the following media:

(a) crown glass (n = 1.50)
(b) ethyl alcohol (n = 1.36)
2. Calculate the refractive index of the medium if the speed of light in that medium is:
(a) 2.6 ×108 m/s
(b) 0.48c
3. A pool of water is 1m deep. Calculate its apparent depth when viewed vertically. The
refractive index of water is 1.33.
4. A person looking down vertically into a pond sees a fish that is apparently 18cm
below the surface. Calculate the actual depth of the fish in the pond. The refractive
index of water is 1.33.

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5. Figure below is a diagram showing the appearance of a coin immersed in water when
viewed from above.

(a) State Snell’s law.

(b) What happens to the rays of light at the surface of water in the figure above.
(c) Calculate the refractive index of water.
6. (a) The table below shows the results obtained in an experiment to determine
refractive index of paraffin using real and apparent depth.

Real depth (cm) 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0

Apparent depth (cm) 2.8 4.2 5.6 7.0 8.4 9.8

(i) Draw a graph of real depth against apparent depth using the values in table
above.
(ii) What does the gradient of the line in the graph you plotted in (a)(i) above
represent?
(iii) Using the graph determine the refractive index of paraffin. [2]
(b) The refractive index of oil is 1.45 and that of water is 1.33. What angle does a ray
of light incident to oil at 40o make with water when oil floating on water.

The critical angle and the total internal reflection

Critical angle

 Critical angle is the angle of incidence when the angle of refraction is 90o.

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 The ray of refraction is refracted along the boundary of the media.

Total internal reflection

 Total internal reflection is when the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle
and ray reflects back into the medium and cannot undergo refraction.
 Total internal reflection only occurs when light moves from an optically denser medium
to less dense medium.

Experiment

Aim

 To observe total internal reflection and to measure the critical angle for glass.

Materials

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 A piece of paper
 Pencil
 A semi-circular glass prism
 Laser pointer

Procedure

1. Trace the outline of the semi-circular prism on the piece of paper.

2. Mark the centre of the semi-circle.
3. Shine a ray of light into the block from the curved side towards the centre of the block
as shown in diagram (a) below.
4. Increase the angle of incidence until the ray of light comes out along the edge of the
block as shown in diagram (b) below.
5. At this point, measure i. This is a critical angle for light at a glass/air boundary.
6. Increase the critical angle as shown in diagram (c) below. What do you observe?

Observations

1. After increasing the critical angle, the ray of light reflected back towards the source.

Conclusion

1. When the angle of incidence is greater than the critical angle, then the total internal
reflection occurs.

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Uses of total internal reflection

1. Total internal reflection is used in optical fibres.

2. Optical fibres have many uses:
 doctors use endoscope to look inside body of patients.
 used in telecommunications to transmit sound and image data for TV or internet
communication.
 used in decorations that carry coloured lights to different parts of the decoration and
let it shine out in different directions.
 Optical fibre is better than copper wire in transmission of data because it can carry larger
amount of data quicker and is thinner and lighter than copper wire.

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Exercise

1. Explain the meaning of the term total internal reflection.

2. State two conditions needed for total internal reflection to occur.
3. Discuss the advantages of optical fibre over copper cables for telecommunications.
4. Calculate the critical angle of a substance with a refractive index of 1.6.
5. A ray of light travels from air into water at an angle of 40o between the normal and the
incident ray.
If this ray produces an angle of refraction of 29o, calculate
(a) the refractive index of water,
(b) the critical angle of water.
6. The figure below shows light in air striking the vertical side of a rectangular glass block
at an angle of incidence of 60o.

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The refractive index of glass is 1.6.

(a) What is refractive index?
(b) Calculate the angle of refraction r.
(c) What is the critical angle of the glass block?
7. The figure below shows a square block of glass JKLM with a ray of light incident on
side JK at an angle of incidence of 60o. The refractive index of the glass is 1.50.

(a) Calculate the angle of refraction of the ray.

(b) Calculate the critical angle for a ray of light in this glass.
(c) Explain why the ray shown cannot emerge from KL but will emerge from side
LM.
(d) Diamond has a refractive index of 2.42. The speed of light in a vacuum (or on air)
is 300 000km/s.
Calculate the
(i) speed of light in diamond,
(ii) critical angle for diamond.

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LENSES
 A lens is an object made from transparent material that refracts light to form
images.
 Optical centre (C) is the centre of the lens.
 Principal axis is the horizontal line passing through the optical centre and
perpendicular to the plane of the lens.
 Principal focus or Focal point (F) is the point where rays parallel to the
principal axis converge.
 Focal length (f) is the distance from the optical centre to the focal point.

Types of lenses

 Convex lens (Converging lens) is a lens that is thickest through the middle.

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 Concave lens (Diverging lens) is a lens that is thickest around the edge.

Convex (Converging) lenses

Position, nature and size of the image

Rules to draw the ray diagram through lens

(i) Rays parallel to principal axis are refracted through F.
(ii) Rays passing through C continue in a straight line.
(iii) Rays passing through F are refracted parallel to the principal axis.

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How to locate the image through a lens

 Use any two of the rules. (Any two of the rules are enough for locating the
image.)
(1) Find the intersection of the refracted rays. It gives the position of the image.
(2) If the refracted rays intersect at any point, the image is real.
(3) If the refracted rays extend behind the object and the extended lines intersect
at any point, the image is virtual.
(4) If the refracted rays do not intersect at any point, the image is infinity.

A. Object located beyond 2F

 The image is real.

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 The image is inverted.

 The image is diminished.
B. Object located at 2F

 The image is real.

 The image is inverted.
 The image is the same size as the object.

C. Object located between 2F and F

 The image is real.

 The image is inverted.
 The image is magnified.
In this position:
A lens is used in an overhead projector.

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NOTE: As the object gets closer to the lens, the image becomes larger and further
away from the other side of the lens.

D. Object located at F

 The image is at infinity ( no image forms)

 This arrangement is used in the light houses, which signal where the land is so
that the ships can steer clear of the shore. (ships to be guided/directed where the shore
is)

E. Object located between F and the lens

 The image is virtual.

 The image is upright.

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 The image is magnified.

In this position:
 A lens is used as a magnifying glass
 A lens is used in the eyepiece of a microscope

Example

1. An object that is 12mm tall is placed at a point 30mm away from the optical centre of
a convex lens. The focal length of the lens is 20mm.
(a) Draw an accurate ray diagram
(b) Determine the position, size, and the nature of the image.

Mathematical Calculations on Lens

The lens equation:

1 1 1
= +
focal length object distance image distance
Or
1 1 1
= +
f do d1

height of image −image distance

magnification= =
height of object o bject distance
Or
h1 −d 1
m= =
ho d o

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 The negative sign is needed to account for a negative height value, which we
get if an image is inverted.

Example

1. A 3.8cm –tall medicine container is placed 24.6cm away from a convex lens. The lens
has a focal length of 14.9cm. Calculate:
(a) The image distance
(b) The image height.

Solution
Data: ho = 3.8cm, do = 24.6cm, f = 14.9cm, di = ?, hi = ?
di = 37.88cm
hi = -5.85cm. (The negative value for image height indicates
that the image is inverted.

Uses of lenses

 Lenses are used as magnifying glass in binoculars, telescope, microscopes,

cameras and projectors.
 Lenses help us correct vision when we cannot see far or near.

Exercise
1. The object is placed 20cm from the convex lens, the object is 5cm tall and the focal
length of the lens is 15cm. Find the
(a) image distance
(b) image height
2. A 4cm high object is placed 8cm from a convex lens of focal length 3cm. Draw a scale
diagram to find the position and size of the image.
(a) Position of the image

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(b) Size of the image

3. The figure below shows an object O placed in front of a thin converging lens of focal
point F.

(a) Complete the ray diagram to locate the position of the image formed by the
converging lens.
(b) State the characteristics of the image formed.
(c) Calculate the magnification of the lens.
4. The following data was obtained from an experiment to determine the focal length of a
biconvex lens.
U (cm) 30.0 35. 40.0 45.0 50.0
0
V (cm) 44.0 37. 32.0 31.0 28.0
0
M ( vu )
(a) Copy and complete the table to get all the values of M (magnification).
(b) Plot a graph of M against V.
(c) Determine G the slope of the graph.
(d) Use the slope G of your graph to determine f (focal length) of the lens using

v
G= −1
f
(e) Mention one use of this type of lens.

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5. The figure below shows an incomplete ray diagram

(a) Complete the ray diagram above to show the position of the image.
(b) Give two characteristics of the image formed.
6. A 4cm high object is placed 8cm from a convex lens of focal length 3cm. Draw a scale
diagram to find the position and size of the image.
(a) Position of the image
(b) Size of the image

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