Light

Light • Light is energy that our eyes can detect
• Light is made of waves

• Light waves are part of a family of waves called electromagnetic waves
• Electromagnetic waves all travel at the speed of light: 3,0000,0000m/s
• The speed of light is the fastest known speed in the Universe
• Light travels in straight lines from a source
Luminous and non- • Luminous objects produce their own light e.g. the Sun, a lightbulb
luminous objects • Non-luminous objects don’t produce their own light but can reflect light e.g. the Moon, planets
Year 8 – Physics / Light – HT4

Opaque, translucent • An opaque object doesn’t allow any light to travel though it
and transparent • A translucent object allows some light to travel through it, but absorbs the rest
objects • A transparent object allows all of the light to travel through it
• A shadow is caused when an opaque object blocks the path of light rays
Pinhole camera • A pinhole camera uses a tiny hole to focus an image of an object onto a translucent screen
• The image formed is inverted (upside down) and much smaller than the object
Reflection • When light rays from a source hit an object, they can Diffuse and • When all of the light rays hitting a surface
be reflected (bounce off) specular are reflected in the same direction, this is
Incident ray
• The light rays from the source are called incident rays reflection called specular reflection. It happens on
and the rays that reflect are called the reflected rays smooth, shiny surfaces like a plane (flat)
Angle of incidence
• The Law of Reflection says that the angle of mirror and we see an image on the
i
Normal
incidence is equal to the angle of reflection (i = r for surface
r
Angle of reflection
short) • If all of the light rays are reflected in
i=r
• This is used in lots of ways, for example periscopes different directions, this is called diffuse
and optical fibres reflection. This happens on dull, rough
Reflected ray
• The imaginary line at 90º to the surface being surfaces
Plane mirror
reflected is called the normal and it helps us to
measure angles
Refraction • Light travels at different speeds in different materials
• When light moves from one material to another, it can either speed up or slow down
• When the ray of light hits a surface at an angle, one side of the ray slows downs while the others dies of the
ray carries on at the same speed, causing the ray to change direction (‘bend’). This is called refraction
• In a semi-circular block, light can be refracted but after the critical angle, the light gets reflected inside the
block. This is called total internal reflection
Year 8 – Physics / Light – HT4

Lenses • Lenses use refraction to change the path of light
• A lens can focus rays of light at a point called the focal point
• The focal length is the distance between the lens and the focal length is the distance between the lens and
the focal point
• Convex lenses bulge outwards. They cause light rays to come together and meet (converge)
• Concave lenses cave inwards. They cause light rays to spread out away from each other (diverge)
• Lenses are used in glasses to help light rays focus on the correct part of the eye
The spectrum of white • A prism can be used to separate white light into a spectrum of seven colours. Different colours of light have
different frequencies and wavelengths
• The order of the spectrum is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (Richard Of York Gave Battle
In Vain)
• Rainbows, the sky being blue and sunsets are all examples of dispersion
Seeing colours • Different objects appear different colours as they reflect different parts of the spectrum
• White object reflect all the colours of the spectrum. Black objects absorb all the colours
• A red t-shirt looks red in white light because it only reflects red light. The other colours are absorbed
• We say that red, green and blue are the primary colours. All other colours are seen as a result of seeing a
mixture of red, green and blue
• The secondary colours are magenta, cyan and yellow
• A yellow t-shirt reflects green and red light and absorbs the other colours
BLUE
• A blue t-shirt would look black in red light as there is no blue light to reflect and it absorbs the red light

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Light • Light is energy that our eyes can detect

• Light is made of waves

Year 8 – Physics / Light – HT4

Year 8 – Physics / Light – HT4

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