Unit 11: Light

Fru V. Akuma

[email protected]
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What do you think?
1. Can a light wave be considered a high-frequency radio wave?
2. How come light goes through some materials and not other materials?
3. Why are metals shiny?
4. Why do clothes appear darker when they are wet than when they are
dry?
5. Why is the sky blue?
6. Why are sunsets red?
7. Why are clouds white?
8. Why is the red colour at the top of the rainbow while violet is at the
bottom?
9. Why does it form a bow and not a straight line?

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This lecture will help you understand:
1. Electromagnetic spectrum
2. Transparent and opaque materials
3. Reflection
4. Refraction
5. Colour
6. Dispersion

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 Electromagnetic spectrum
• Recall that an electric charge produces an electric field, and that if the
charge moves then it also produces a magnetic field.
• The sun produces electromagnetic (EM) waves because it is in a plasma
state; a gas of ions and electrons.

• The electric and the magnetic field induce each other in a process known as
electromagnetic induction.
• When one field changes, it causes a similar change in the other wave hence
the wavelength remains the same.
• Electromagnetic spectrum: Wavelengths:
Q: Can a light wave be considered a high-frequency radio wave?
• Wavelength and frequency:

• Notice that if you multiply the frequency and wavelength together with
these rough values [use values that vertically above each other], you will
get close to the speed of light, which is 3 x 108 m/s
• V=fx𝛌
• Eg: Using Gamma radiation: V = 1020 Hz x 10-12 m = 108 ms-1
• Relative size of wavelength:
• The electromagnetic waves produced by the sun range from the low
frequency radio waves to the high frequency gamma rays
• All electromagnetic waves move through a vacuum with a constant
velocity of 3 x 108 m/s.
• In this topic we will focus on visible light and its Red, Orange, Yellow,
Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet (ROYGBIV) spectrum.
• Notice that the wavelength decreases from red to blue while the
frequency (and thus energy) increases from red to blue.
Transparent and opaque materials
Q: How come light goes through some materials and not other materials?
Q: Why are metals shiny?
Q: Why do clothes appear darker when they are wet than when they are dry?
• Transparent materials allow light to pass through them. Examples include
glass and water.
• When light hits a medium, it sets its electrons in motion, causing a forced
vibration.
• Natural frequency of vibration of electrons in glass is similar to ultraviolet
light frequencies.
• When ultraviolet radiation hits glass, the electrons of glass vibrate with the
same frequency. This means they resonate, absorbing energy from the
radiation and holding on to it for long periods. (~ 100 millionths of second).
• During this time, the electrons undergo many vibrations and during the
vibrations, they transmit the energy as thermal energy.
• Thus, glass is opaque to ultraviolet light. Glass absorbs ultraviolet light.
• If the frequency is lower, say visible light, the electrons vibrate with lower
amplitudes and they hold on to the energy for shorter periods of time.
• This means the energy is not transmitted as thermal energy, instead it is
re-emitted as light on the other side of the glass.

• So glass is transparent to visible light. However, it slows it down.

• Infrared has an even lower frequency. This makes not only the electrons,
but the whole atom and molecules to vibrate.
• The molecular vibrations increase the thermal energy of the material.
• Most things around us are opaque – they absorb light without re-emission.
• These include books, chairs, tables, walls and people.
• When light hits them, the energy is converted into random kinetic energy
which makes the atoms to bump into each other more and heat up.
• Because metals have seas of delocalised electrons, when light hits them, its
sets the free electrons into vibration.
• The light energy is not transmitted from one atom to another, instead it is
reflected making metals shiny.
• The earth’s atmosphere is transparent to some UV and Infrared rays, while
it is transparent to all visible light.
• UV rays cause sunburn. Clouds are semitransparent to UV which means
there are less sunburn of a cloudy day.
• Have you wondered why objects, for example clothes, appear darker when
they are wet than when they are dry?
• Light hits dry object and travel directly into your eye whereas if the surface
is wet, it bounces inside the transparent wet region where some of it gets
absorbed before the rest of it reaches your eye.
Reflection
• Reflection refers to the returning of a wave to the medium through which
it came when encountering a reflective surface.
• The law of reflection states that the angle of reflection is equal to the
angle of incidence.
• Note that the angles of the incident
and the reflected rays are between
the rays and the normal line.
• A normal line is an imaginary line
that is perpendicular to the surface
of the reflective object.
• As shown in the bottom left picture, rays of light radiate in every direction
from the flame.
• These rays are absorbed and then reflected by the mirror, Some rays are
shown in the diagram.
• If you trace the reflected rays back, they meet up at a common point
where the image forms.
• The imagine is called a virtual image because the light does not come from
it, instead, they are a reflection of light from the original object.
• The picture and diagram on the bottom right shows that the only axis that
changes in the mirror is the front and back one.
• Thus it appears as if her right hand is facing the left hand of her image.
• Because the mirrors discussed so far are flat (plane mirror), the distance
and the size of the imagine is similar to that of the object.

• If the mirror is curved to form a (a)

convex or a (b) concave mirror, the
distance and size of the image changes.
• In a convex the image gets smaller and
closer while it gets bigger and further
away in a concave mirror.
Refraction
• When light enters a different medium, its velocity changes and if it enters
the new medium at an angle, its direction also changes.
• Because our sight relies on the
rays that enter our eyes,
refraction leads to many illusions.
• A pencil in a glass of water
appears to be broken if half of it
is out of the water.
• Objects viewed at an angle in
water are not where they seem
to be.
• As shown in the diagrams with water, light bends towards the normal line
when it enters a medium with a high density.
• Similarly, when the light moves out of the water, it bends away from the
normal line and thus it moves faster.
• Remember that that while the change in medium changes the wavelength
and the velocity of the wave, the frequency of the wave remains the same.
• If the frequency changed, then the colour of the light would also change.
This does not happen.
• A mirage forms when refracted rays appear as if they are
reflected.
• For example, on a hot day, the air closer to the tar heats
up compared to the air above, this makes the two air
masses different.
• The light travels faster in the thinner hot air than it does in
the cool air. Hence it bends upwards.
• To the eye, it appears as if there is water on the road
whereas there is none.
Colour Colour

• The colour spectrum of is composed of seven colours: Red, Orange, Yellow,

Green, Blue, Violet and Indigo (ROYGBIV):

• When these colours are put together, the produced white light.
• Objects, like roses, do not emit light. Instead, they reflect it.
• So, when a red rose is struck by white light, it reflects the red light and
absorbs the other six colours.
• The red light then travels to our eyes and we see the rose as red.
• The same is true for transmission:
• If a ray of light moves through a blue glass, only the blue light will emerge
on the other side of the glass while the other colours are absorbed by the
glass.
Mixing coloured lights
• When white light is dispersed by a prism as shown in the diagram, the
distribution of is uneven.

• The light has a high intensity in the yellow-green part of the spectrum.
• Our eyes have evolved to have a high sensitivity at this range, hence fire
engines and tennis balls are often yellow-green for better visibility.
• Although all the colours produce white light, just red, green and blue also
produce white light.
• Dividing the spectrum into three regions means that low frequency light
stimulates eye cones that are sensitive to low frequency light and thus it
appears red.
• Light of middle frequencies stimulates cones that are sensitive to middle
frequencies and appears green.
• Light of higher frequency stimulates cones that are sensitive to higher
frequencies and appears blue.
• Red, green and blue are called primary
colours because their combination in various
amounts produce all colours in the spectrum.
• Note that the colours need to have the same
brightness to produce the new colours
including white.
• The new colour produced is regarded as the
‘opposite’ of the primary colour that did not
lead to its formation. For example, magenta is
the ‘opposite’ of green, yellow is the opposite
of blue and cyan is the opposite of red.

• Adding the primary colour and its opposite produces white light (green +
magenta = white, blue + yellow = white, red + cyan = white).
• When two or more colours are added to produce white light, they are
called complementary colours. ‘Opposite’ colours are complimentary.
Mixing coloured pigments
• Notice that so far we have been talking about colours in the form of light
which is a wave.
• Now we are talking about colour in terms of pigments/paint.
• In this regard, if you add the primary colours (Red, Green and Blue) you
won’t get white, instead you get dark brown.
• The colours Cyan, Magenta and Yellow are known as subtractive primary
colours.
Why is the sky blue?
• Not all colour is a result of addition or subtraction of light. Some are a
result of selective scattering.
• Remember that atoms re-emit light waves that shine on them in every
direction.
• Tiny particles, like air molecules behave the same way. The tinier the
particles, the higher the frequency of the re-emitted light.
• Violet light is scattered the most by Nitrogen and Oxygen. These are the
abundant gases in the atmosphere at 78% and 21% respectively.
• The other colours are scattered in the same order from blue to red.
• Although violet is the most scattered light, our eyes are not sensitive to it.
Thus the next light to be scattered the most is blue.
• So when light from the sun passes through the sky, the particles absorb it
and re-emit light at the frequency of the blue colour.
• If the sky contains dust and other particles larger than oxygen and
nitrogen, lights of lower frequencies also undergo scattering.
• This makes the sky less blue and more whitish.
• If there is heavy rain that washes the particles away, the sky goes back to
being deep blue.
Why are sunsets red?
• If light is not scattered, it gets transmitted. Remember that it is light of
high frequency that is easily scattered.
• This means low frequency light is better transmitted through the air.

• The diagram shows that at sunrise and sunset,

the rays pass through the highest amount of
atmosphere.
• This means there is enough time for the
atmosphere to scatter the high frequency light
away and transmit the low frequency light to
our eyes.
• At noon, the sun goes through the least
amount of atmosphere. Only a small amount
of blue is scattered. This makes the sun look
yellow.
Why are clouds white?
• Clouds are made up of water droplets which are larger than individual
particles.
• Water droplets primarily reflect and refract light of all colours equally.
• Each water droplet absorbs light in addition to reflection and refraction.
• So for bigger clouds with many droplets, more light is absorbed and too
little of it passes through.
• This makes bigger clouds look dark. However, darkness may also be caused
by shadows of neighbouring clouds.
Dispersion
• This is the separation of light into the ROYGBIV colours.

• You have probably seen a rainbow forming at a distance when it rains or

closer when a sprinkler waters a garden.
• To understand rainbow formation you have to understand the dispersion
of light when it enters a water droplet.
• When light enters a water droplet, some of it is reflected (not shown in
the diagrams) while some is dispersed on the inside of the drop.

• Red has longer wavelength than violet, hence it gets refracted less when
the light enters or exits the water droplet.
• Inside the drop, when the light has already dispersed, a reflection occurs
before the second refraction where the light exits the water.
• The angle between the incident ray and the dispersed red light on the
outside of the water drop is 42° while it is 40° for blue light.
• These angles mean the red colour is at the top of the rainbow while violet is
at the bottom.
• The angles also mean you have to be at the right place in order to see a
rainbow.
• Furthermore, a rainbow is visible in the morning or afternoon, but not in the
middle of the day when the rays are coming from above. Under perfect
conditions it can be seen below you as a perfect circle from an airplane.
• Note that the sun has to be behind you for you to see the rainbow.
• As shown in the diagram on the left, a rainbow is actually a full circle.
However, only the top part is visible to people on the ground.
• To see the full circle, you need to be up in the sky or spray a water mist
from your garden away from the sun.
• Why does it form a bow and not a straight line?
• Although a rainbow appears to be 2D, it is actually a 3D shape with the
apex being in your eye.
• The reason why it forms a cone is that you can only see dispersed light
that is between 40° and 42°.
• Note that this angle does not have to be vertical as shown the diagrams, it
can also be horizontal (if you toss a set square while keeping it in place,
you get a bow forming).
• The picture on the right of the previous slide shows another faint rainbow
above the bright one.
• This is known as a secondary bow caused by a double reflection of the
dispersed light inside the water drop.
Observing the half-spectra
• Looking through a triangular prism, which I recommend that you do with
your learners, you will notice that at the boundaries between light and
dark, you will always see half a spectrum. Either the red, orange and
yellow “warm” colours, or the blue, indigo and violet “cold” colours.
• Where these two half spectra overlap you will either get green or magenta
in the middle.
• The Rainbow and normal study of colour full spectrum has green in the
middle because the light is in the middle of two dark bands.
• The inverted rainbow has magenta in the middle because is a dark band
surrounded by light.
If you look at this through the prism…
You should see something like this