Pavia National High School

Evangelista St., Pavia, Iloilo

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

Learning Activity Sheet in Physical Science (3.3)

Various Light Phenomena
OBJECTIVES:
After going through this Learning Activity Sheet, you are expected to explain various phenomena, such as:
a. your reflection on the concave and convex sides of a spoon looks different;
b. mirages;
c. light from a red laser passes more easily though red cellophane than green cellophane;
d. clothing of certain colors appears different in artificial light and in sunlight;
e. haloes, sundogs, primary rainbows, secondary rainbows, and supernumerary bows;
f. why clouds are usually white and rainclouds dark;
g. why the sky is blue and sunsets are reddish.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Ray Diagram of Concave Mirrors in a Spoon
In the center of the sphere from which the mirror was sliced is known as the center of curvature and is denoted by the letter
C in the diagram below. The point on the mirror's surface where the principal axis meets the mirror is known as the vertex and is
denoted by the letter A in the diagram below. The vertex is the geometric center of the mirror. Midway between the vertex and the
center of curvature is a point known as the focal point; the focal point is denoted by the letter F in the diagram below. The distance
from the vertex to the center of curvature is known as the radius of curvature (represented by R). The radius of curvature is the
radius of the sphere from which the mirror was cut. Finally, the distance from the mirror to the focal point is known as the focal
length (represented by f).
Since the focal point is the midpoint of the line segment adjoining the vertex and the center of curvature, the focal length
would be one-half the radius of curvature.

Ray Diagram of Convex Mirrors in a Spoon

The diagram at the right depicts a convex mirror. In Lesson 3, a convex mirror was described as a portion of a sphere that
had been sliced away. If the outside of the sphere is silvered such that it can reflect light, then the mirror is said to be convex. The
center of that original sphere is known as the center of curvature (C) and the line that passes from the mirror's surface through the
sphere's center is known as the principal axis. The mirror has a focal point (F) that is located along the principal axis, midway
between the mirror's surface and the center of curvature. Note that the center of curvature and the focal point are located on the
side of the mirror opposite the object - behind the mirror. Since the focal point is located behind the convex mirror, such a mirror is
said to have a negative focal length value.
A convex mirror is sometimes referred to as a diverging
mirror due to the fact that incident light originating from the same
point and will reflect off the mirror surface and diverge. The diagram
at the right shows four incident rays originating from a point and
incident towards a convex mirror. These four rays will each reflect
according to the law of reflection. After reflection, the light rays
diverge; subsequently they will never intersect on the object side
of the mirror. For this reason, convex mirrors produce virtual images
that are located somewhere behind the mirror.
The image in the diagram above is a virtual image.
Light does not actually pass through the image location.
It only appears to observers as though all the reflected light
from each part of the object is diverging from this virtual image
location. The fact that all the reflected light from the object appears to diverge from this location in space means that any
observer would view a replica or reproduction when sighting along a line at this location.

Mirages: Refraction in a Non-Uniform Medium

A mirage is an optical phenomenon that creates the illusion of water and results from the refraction of light through a non-
uniform medium. Mirages are most commonly observed on sunny days when driving down a roadway. As you drive down the
roadway, there appears to be a puddle of water on the road several yards (maybe one-hundred yards) in front of the car. Of course,
when you arrive at the perceived location of the puddle, you recognize that the puddle is not there. Instead, the puddle of water
appears to be another one hundred yards in front of you. You could carefully match the perceived location of the water to a roadside
object; but when you arrive at that object, the puddle of water is still not on the roadway. The appearance of the water is simply an
illusion.
Mirages occur on sunny days. The role of the sun is to heat the roadway to high temperatures. This heated roadway in turn
heats the surrounding air, keeping the air just above the roadway at higher temperatures than that day's average air temperature.
Hot air tends to be less optically dense than cooler air. As such, a non-uniform medium has been created by the heating of the
roadway and the air just above it.
While light will travel in a straight line through a uniform medium, it will refract when traveling through a non-uniform medium. If a
driver looks down at the roadway at a very low angle (that is, at a position nearly one hundred yards away), light from objects above
the roadway will follow a curved path to the driver's eye as shown in the diagram below.

So, when you experience this sunny day phenomenon, your mind must quickly make sense of how you can look downward at the
roadway and see an object located above the road. In the process of making sense of this event, your mind draws upon past
experiences. Searching the database of stored experiences, your mind is interested in an explanation of why the eye can sight
downward at a surface and see an object that is located above the surface. In the process of searching, it comes up with three
possible explanations based upon past experiences. Your mind subtly ponders these three options.
1. There is a mirror on the road. Someone must have for some reason placed a mirror on the road. The mirror is reflecting
light and that is why I see an image of the oncoming truck when I look downward at the road.
2. There is a glass window on the road. My gosh, do you believe it! Someone has left a glass window on the road. The glass
window is reflecting light and that is why I see an image of the oncoming truck when I look downward at the road.
3. There is water on the road. It must have rained last night and there is a puddle of water left on the road. The water is
reflecting light and that is why I see an image of the oncoming truck when I look downward at the road.

Of the three possible explanations of the image of the truck, only one makes a lot of sense to the mind - there is water on
the road. After all, while both glass windows and mirrors can reflect light, nowhere in your mind's database of past experiences is
there an account of a mirror or glass window being seen on a roadway. Yet there are plenty of times that a water puddle has been
observed to be present on a roadway. Smart person that you are, you then conclude that there is a puddle of water on the road that
is causing you to see objects located above the road when you sight downward at the road. The illusion is complete.
Red and Green Cellophanes: Can Red Light Pass Through?
In Activity 1.2., you should see the following observations when red light shines at a white paper with red and green dots: (1) The
white paper appears red; (2) The red dots on the paper cannot be seen; and (3) The green dots appear black. Let’s understand why
these happens and answer the question, “why does light from a red laser passes more easily though red cellophane than green
cellophane?”
Normal Light Red Light
The white paper appears red because the color white is
a reflection of all wavelengths of light together, and
therefore, is able to reflect the red light transmitted
RED GREEN BLACK
onto it, and also no other wavelengths of light are
visible in the darkened room.
The red dots cannot be seen because they are reflecting the same wavelength of light that is being transmitted onto them. Since the
red light is the only light in the room, when it hits the red dots on the white paper the only wavelength of light that is reflected back
is red. There is no contrast between two different colors caused by multiple wavelengths of light so the colors cannot be
distinguished from one another.
The green dots appear black in the red light because they absorb the red light and have no other wavelength of light to reflect. A
green dot appears green in white light because when the light hits it, it absorbs all wavelengths except for green, which is reflected.
The color black occurs when all wavelengths of light that hit an object are absorbed.

Rainbows: Bringing Colors in the Atmosphere8

Rainbows result from refraction of sunlight in falling water
droplets plus reflection of the light from the back of the droplet.
If during a rain shower you can see the shadow of your own
head, then you are in position to see a rainbow if conditions
are favorable. The rainbow forms a circular arc around the
anti-solar point, which is located at the shadow of your head.
You can search for the shadow of your head to find a rainbow
in a waterfall, or even in the spray from a hose or sprinkler.
The primary rainbow forms between about 40° and 42° from
the antisolar point. The light path involves refraction and a
single reflection inside the water droplet. If the drops are large,
1 millimeter or more in diameter, red, green, and violet are
bright but there is little blue. Such large droplets are suggested
by the rainbow at right
As the droplets get smaller, red weakens. In fine mist, all colors
except violet may disappear. Even finer fog droplets, smaller than
0.05 mm, produce the white rainbow or fog bow. The secondary
rainbow involves two reflections inside the falling droplets.
Rainbows are not seen in midday since the whole 42° circle is
below the horizon at most latitudes. So rainbows tend to be seen
most in the later afternoon when a thundershower has passed and
the sun from the west is illuminating the receding edge of an
eastwardly moving raincloud. It is possible to see the entire circle of the rainbow from an airplane since there can be
falling droplets both above and below you. The secondary rainbow is about 10° further out from the antisolar point than
the primary bow, is about twice as wide, and has its colors reversed.
Colors of the Clouds and the Sky9
In a cloud sunlight is scattered equally, meaning that the sunlight continues to remain white and gives clouds
their distinctive white appearance. Clouds are white because light from the Sun is white. As light passes through a cloud,
it interacts with the water droplets, which are much bigger than the atmospheric particles that exist in the sky.
When sunlight reaches an atmospheric particle in the sky, blue light is scattered away more strongly than other colors,
giving the impression that the sky is blue. But in a cloud, sunlight is scattered by much larger water droplets. These
scatter all colors almost equally meaning that the sunlight continues to remain white and so making the clouds appear
white against the background of the blue sky.
Cloud bases are often grey as a result of the same scattering that
makes them white. When light is scattered in a cloud it usually is
sent back upwards, or out to the sides of the cloud, making the
tops and sides of the cloud whiter than the base which receives less
light. This is more prominent in rain clouds because the cloud droplets
are bigger, thus scattering more light. This means that even less light
from the Sun reaches the bottom of the cloud, giving rain clouds its Cloud droplets scatter all wavelengths of visible light
intimidating appearance. creating the appearance of white clouds

Because the tops of clouds have a constant source of white light, they
are always white! If you are ever on a plane, look out the window when you are above the clouds, you will see that the
tops of all the clouds will be a brilliant white. At sunrise or sunset, clouds can take on a red or orange color. This is
because during sunrise and sunset, the Sun is very low in the sky and so light has to travel through more of the
atmosphere. As a result, more of the blue light is scattered and deflected away allowing more red and yellow light to
reach the Earth. Rayleigh scattering refers to the scattering of light off of the molecules of the air, and can be extended to
scattering from particles up to about a tenth of the wavelength of the light. It is Rayleigh scattering off the molecules of
the air which gives us the blue sky.

PERFORMANCE TASK NO. 3

LIGHT PHENOMENA
(Sunrise/Sunset)

TASK: To appreciate the effects of light in daily life situation.

WHAT TO DO?
1. Take a selfie picture with sunrise or sunset as a background.
2. Write a poem/story reflecting the effect of light or explain why you appreciate the sunrise/sunset.
3. Print the picture with your explanation in a short/A4 size bond paper.
4. Submit on or before March 14, 2025.

RUBRICS FOR RATING:

Presentation of the picture in a creative way. - - - - - 30%
Product Output -Product is appropriate. - - - - - - 40%
Mechanics - Followed the procedure correctly. Used appropriate materials.- - 30%
100%

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Mjatb2025