Light

Definations
Laws of reflection
• The first law of reflection
-​ The incident ray, reflected ray and the normal at the point of incidence lie in the same
plane
• The second law of reflection
-​ The angles of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection

Incident ray: Light ray going towards the surface

Reflected ray: Light ray going away from the surface
◦
Normal: The perpendicular line (90 ) to the surface
Angle of incidence (θ𝑖): Angle between incident ray and normal
Angle of reflection (θ𝑟): Angle between reflected ray and normal

Types of reflection
• Smooth surface
-​ When a beam of light is reflected by a smooth surface, the reflected rays remain parallel
to each other and maintain their spacing
-​ The reflection is described as regular (orderly) reflection.
• Rough surface
-​ A rough surface gives rise to irregular (disorderly) reflection.
-​ Irregular reflection is also known as diffuse reflection because after reflection, the rays
spread out in different directions.
*laws of reflection still apply

Characteristics of mirror images

1.​ Mirror image and object are equally far from the mirror
2.​ Miror image is virtual
3.​ Mirror image and object are of the same size
4.​ Mirror image is laterally inverted
5.​ Mirror image is upright

Applications of reflection
- Car mirror
- Dentist
- Teleprompter

Ray diagram
Eg:
1. Locate the image behind the mirror

2. Draw reflected rays

3. Draw incident rays

Refraction
- the bending of light as it passes from one optical medium to another
- takes place as light travels at different speeds in different media

* Denser is towards normal

* Less dense away from the normal
Laws of refraction
• First law of refraction
-​ The incident ray, refracted ray and the normal at the point of indidence all lie in the same
plane
• Second law of refraction
-​ For the two given media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑖
angle of refraction is a constant ( 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑟 = 𝑛)

Refractive index
- The ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in that medium
𝑐
-𝑛 = 𝑣
8
𝑐: 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑣𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑢𝑚 (3 × 10 )
𝑣: 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚

𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑖
- 𝑛 = 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑟
𝑖: 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑣𝑎𝑐𝑢𝑢𝑚
𝑟: 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑚
✭ Optical density is not the same as density

Principle of Reversiblity of Rays

-​ Regardless of how many times a light ray has been reflected or refracted, it will follow
the same path when its direction is reversed
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑥
-​ Refractive index is always given by 𝑛 = 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑦

Effects of refraction
• “Bent” Objects
⚬ Position 1
-​ At position 1, the light ray from the pencil that passed through the block is refracted
when it enters and exits the glass block.
-​ The emergent ray is parallel to the incident ray and the ray through the air.
-​ Light ray as seen by the eye gives the impression that the part of the pencil seen
through the glass block is at another position.
⚬ Position 2
-​ At position 2, there is a smaller angle of incidence when the ray enters the block
𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑖
-​ Since 𝑛 = 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑟
, there is less refraction, thus the pencil appears “bend less”
⚬ Position 3
-​ At position 3, the light ray which is perpendicular to the block enters the block without
refraction.
-​ Thus, the pencil does not look “bent” from position 3.
• Misconception of Depth

-​ As light rays from the bottom of the pool enter the air, they bend away from the normal
-​ This bending causes the light rays to reach our eyes at an angle that makes the bottom
of the pool seem higher than it really is

Total internal reflection

- the complete reflection of a light ray in an optically denser medium at the boundary with an
optically less dense medium
* Partial reflection use dotted lines
* When refracted ray is parallel, θ𝑖 become θ𝑐 which is critical angle
• Critical angle
-​ The angle of incidence in an optically denser medium for which the angle of refraction in
◦
the less dense medium is 90

• Conditions for total internal reflection to happen

1.​ The incident ray must travel from an optically denser medium to an optically less dense
medium
2.​ The angle of incidence must be greater than the critical angle

𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑖 1
𝑛= 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝑟
= 𝑠𝑖𝑛 θ𝑐

• Prism
*need to know where to place prism in periscope and binocular

Optical Fibres
- Optical fibres made from glass or plastic can carry information in the form of coded
light pulses
- The fibres, which are thin and flexible, rely on total internal reflection of light to transmit signals

• Telecommunications
- Transmission of large amount of data, the optical fibres can be bundled to form thicker
cables.
- Larger and longer undersea cables that span thousands of kilometres are used as
communication links across continents
- Advantages:
1.​ data transfer rate is faster as compared to using copper wires, radio waves or
microwaves
2.​ less signal loss as compared to copper cables
3.​ lighter and cheaper as compared to copper cables of similar length

• Medicial use
- An endoscope can be used to inspect the insides of hollow organs such as the digestive tract
- Being flexible, optical fibres are suitable to be used in the endoscope to transmit light for
illumination and to capture the images inside organs
- Optical fibres also play an important role in laparoscopy (a type of “keyhole” surgery).
- In laparoscopy, no large incisions are made in the skin as an instrument called laparoscope
- The small and flexible optical fibres make it ideal for use in laparoscope to transmit light.
- Laparoscopy greatly reduces the pain, bleeding and recovery time of patients.
- Advantages:
1.​ Optical fibres are thin and light. Thus, the endoscopes and laparoscopes are kept small
for minimally invasive examination and surgery.
 2.​ Optical fibres are flexible. Thus, the endoscopes and laparoscopes can curve around
obstacles when taking images inside the body.

Converging Lens
• How does converging lens work
-​ Its shape is thicker in the centre such that a beam of parallel rays passing through it will
be focused onto a single focal point
* Convering lens are thicker in the centre compared to their rims
* Diverging Lens

• Terms used to describe thin converging lenses

Principle axis The line that passes through the centre of the lens and which
is perpendicular to the plane of the lens

Optical centre (C) The point of the principle axis that is the midpoint between
the surfaces of the lens

Principal focal point (F) The point on the principle axis where all the rays parallel to
the principal axis meet after passing through the lens

Focal Plane The plane perpendicular to the principal axis where all the
parallel rays meet after passing through the lens
* plane of all possible focal points

Focal length (𝑓) The distance between the optical centre C and the principle
focal point F

Ray diagram for thin converging lens

1. Draw reference points and horizontal axis

2. Draw object
3. Draw line connecting object to the vertical axis then to point F
4. Draw line connecting the object to the (0,0)
5. Draw image where the 2 lines intersect
Object position Ray diagram Image characteristic Application

Infinity Inverted, real, Telescope

diminished lens

Greater than 2F Inverted, real, Camera lens

diminished

At 2F Inverted, real, same Photocopier

size

Middle of 2F and F Inverted, real, Projector

magnified

At F Upright, virtual, To produce

magnified a beam of
light;
spotlight
 Less than F Upright, virtual, Magnifying
magnified glass

Bigger -> magnified

Smaller-> diminished
Same size
Arrow Pointing down-> inverted
Arrow Pointing up-> upright

Real image
-​ Can be formed on a screen placed at the image plane
Virtual image
-​ Cannot be formed on a screen placed at its image plane