Chapter 12: Light

Light
- Light is a form of energy.
- Light travels in straight lines called light rays. Light rays must always have an arrowhead on it to indicate
the direction in which it travels.
- There are three types of light rays:

- Luminous objects give off light.

- Non-luminous objects do not give off light. A light source is required for us to see the object.
- Take note of the direction of the arrowhead in the diagram below. Arrowhead should always be towards the
eyes for us to see the object.

Laws of Reflection

- Reflection of light is the change in direction of light rays that strikes the boundary between different mediums.
- Two laws of reflection:
o The first law of reflection states that the incident ray, reflected ray and the normal at the point of
incidence all lie on the same plane.
o The second law of reflection states the angle of incidence i is equal to the angle of reflection r.
𝑖=𝑟
- Terms used:
 Point of incidence: The point on the reflecting surface where light strikes.

Incident ray: The light ray that is striking the reflecting surface.

Reflected ray: The light ray that is reflected from the reflecting surface.

Normal: An imaginary line perpendicular to the reflecting surface at the point of incidence.

Angle of incidence, i: The angle between the incident ray and the normal.

Angle of reflection, r: The angle between the reflected ray and the normal.

Types of Reflection
Types Characteristics
Regular reflection that occurs at smooth Regular reflection refers to the reflection of rays coming from a
surfaces like mirrors. smooth plane surface.

Parallel light rays incident on the surface produces parallel reflected

rays.

All the normal are parallel.

All light rays have the same incident and reflected angle.

Diffused (irregular) reflection that Diffused reflection refers to the reflection of rays coming from
occurs on rough irregular surfaces like a rough surfaces.
cloth.
Parallel light rays incident on the surfaces are reflected in all
direction.

Each normal is not parallel to the other.

The incident and reflected angles of each rays are different from the
others.
However, the second law of reflection is obeyed at each point on
the rough surface.
Plane Mirror
- 5 characteristics of images in a plane mirror:
o It is laterally inverted. (Left become right/ right become left)
o It is the same size as the object.
o It is upright.
o It is virtual.
o Its distance from the mirror is equal to the distance of the object from the mirror.

Constructing Ray Diagrams

1. Locate the position of the image behind the mirror, using the concept that the image will have the same
distance from the mirror as the object from the mirror.

2. Draw the reflected rays from image to eyes. Dotted lines are used for the light rays behind the mirror
(virtual rays) while solid (continuous) lines are used for the light rays reflected off the mirror into the eye
(real rays).

3. Draw the incident rays by drawing lines joining the object to the points of incidence on the mirror surface.
The arrowheads on these lines should be from the object to the eyes.

Application of Mirrors

1. Vision testing
o Mirrors are used to make the letters and number farther apart than they are.

2. Instrument scales
o Mirrors are placed below the pointer to help users avoid parallax errors.

3. Periscopes
o Two mirrors inclined at 45º can be used to make a periscope.

Refraction of Light

- Refraction is the bending of light as it passes from one optical medium to another.
- Light travels at different speed in different optical medium. It travels fastest in vacuum/air.
- Optical density is a measure of how much the speed is slowed down when it passes through a medium.

How Light Rays Bend

- When light ray incidents perpendicularly to the boundary of two mediums, it will not be refracted. It
simply passes through the medium, as the angle of incidence = angle of refraction = 0º.
 - When a light ray incident at an angle to the boundary,
1. from an optically less dense to an optically denser medium, it bends towards the normal.

2. from an optically denser to an optically less dense medium, it bends away from normal.

Terms Used

Refracted ray: Light ray refracted as a result of

passing from one optical medium to another.
Emergent ray: Refracted ray back to the original
medium. It is parallel to the incident ray.
Weak reflected ray
Note:
There will always be a weak reflected ray when there
is a refraction unless total internal reflection occurs.

Laws of Refraction
1. The first law of refraction states that the incident ray, refracted ray and the normal at the point of
incidence all lie in the same plane.

2. The second law of refraction states that, for two given media, the ratio of the sine of the angle of
incidence i to the sine of the angle of refraction r is a constant.
sin 𝑖
= constant
sin 𝑟
Refractive Index

- Refractive index (n) of a medium is defined as the ratio of speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light
in the medium. OR
- Refractive index (n) of a medium is defined as the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence i to the sine of
the angle of refraction r.

- Speed of light in vacuum is 3.0 × 108 m/s.

𝑐 sin 𝑖 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ
𝑛= = =
𝑣 sin 𝑟 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ

where c = speed of light in vacuum, v = speed of light in medium,

sin i = angle of incidence in vacuum, sin r = angle of refraction in medium

sin 𝑖
- When using 𝑛 = sin 𝑟 , always take the sine of the larger angle over the sine of the smaller angle.

- Also, angle of incidence and refraction are angles between the normal and light rays, not between the
boundary and light rays.

Refractive index (n) is always more than or equal to zero. 𝑛 ≥ 0

- A medium with a higher refractive index is optically denser and light travels slower in it.

- The effect of refraction can cause human to have a misperception of depth. The image we see is distorted
and may not be directly above the object.
 - Additional:

o For visible light, the refractive indexes of most transparent medium decreases with increasing
wavelengths.

1 < 𝑛 (𝜆 𝑟𝑒𝑑) < 𝑛 (𝜆 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑛) < 𝑛 (𝜆 𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑒)

o This causes white light to split into its constituent colour (ROYGBIV) when is passes through a
prism.
Total Internal Reflection and Critical Angle
- Total internal reflection (TIR) refers to the complete reflection light rays within an optically denser
medium.

- Critical angle c is defined as the angle of incidence in an optically denser medium for which the angle of
refraction in the less dense medium is 90º.
1
𝑛=
sin 𝑐
where n = refractive index, c = critical angle (º)

- Two conditions for TIR to occur:

o Light ray must travel from an optically denser medium to an optically less dense medium.

o The angle of incidence in the optically denser medium must be larger than the critical angle.

Application of TIR
1. Optical Fibres

- Optical fibres are very fine, optically pure glass fibre through which light undergoes total internal reflection
to transmit data from one end to another.

- It is used in telecommunication as information can be transferred over long distance using light signals.

- Optical fibres are used as:

o It is cheaper and lighter than copper wire, Cladding with low
o carries much more information than copper wire, refractive index
o carries information faster than copper wire,
o loss of signal is much less than copper wire. Core with high refractive
index
 - For total internal reflection to occur throughout the entire length of the fibre, the critical angle needs to be
small. That is why the refractive index of the cladding needs to be much lower compared to the refractive
index of the core.

- Optical fibres are also used in bundles in endoscopes to inspect inaccessible parts of machines or living
bodies. Two groups of optical fibre would be needed to inspect our organs.

o One group is used to transmit light to illuminate the insides of the organs,
o The other group allows reflected light from the inside of the organs to be transmitted back to the
doctor’s eye or camera.

2. Binoculars that use glass prism

3. Periscopes that use glass prism
4. SLR cameras that use pentaprism

Refraction by Thin Lenses

- A lens is a piece of clear plastic or glass with curved surfaces.

- Path of light in lenses

o The parallel light rays converge or diverge after passing through the lenses due to the refraction of
light.

- Features of a Thin Converging Lens

Focal plane
Principal axis It is the plane that passes through the
focal length focal point F and is perpendicular
It is the horizontal line
to the principal axis.
passing through the optical
centre of the lens.

The principal axis is

perpendicular to the Focal length f
vertical plane of the lens.
It is the distance between the
optical centre C and the focal
point F.
Optical centre C
It is the midpoint between the Focal point F
surface of the lens on its It is the point at which all rays parallel to the principal
principal axis. converge after refraction by the lens.
Light rays passing through the A lens always has two focal points, one on each side of the
optical centre are not refracted. lens.
 - Additional:

o The thicker the lens, the shorter the focal length.

o The greater the refractiv index, the shorter the focal length.
o The bigger the lens, the brighter the image.
o The longer the focal length, the weaker the rays. (vice-versa)

Ray Diagrams for Thin Converging Lenses

- There are three special rays for converging lenses.

- Any two of these rays will locate the position of the image. (most of the time ○
1 and ○
2 )
- The intersection at one point between the rays are where the image is.

- Light rays from the tip of the object will form the tip of the image, while light rays from the tail of the
object will form the tail of the object.

- We can use the following formula to find the exact distance the image is from the lens. This formula is not
in the syllabus.

1 1 1
+ =
𝑢 𝑣 𝑓

where u = distance of object from lens, v = distance of image from lens, f = focal length

e.g.
Take u = 2f,
1 1 1
+ =
2𝑓 𝑣 𝑓
1 1 1
= 2( )−
𝑣 𝑓 2𝑓
1 1
=
𝑣 2𝑓
∴ 𝑣 = 2𝑓
which is true (refer to next page)
Types of Images formed by Converging Lenses

- An image that is real is always inverted.

- An image that is virtual is always upright.

- To determine the size of the image, we use u = 2f as the reference.

o u > 2f, image is diminished.

o u = 2f, image is same size.
o u < 2f, image is magnified.
o u ≤ f, image is virtual.

- When the object is moved closer to the lens, the size of the image is larger.