Light

What is Light

Light is a special type of wave

What we know as light or VISIBLE LIGHT is
actually a type of something called
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION.
So, what is electromagnetic radiation and
electromagnetic waves?

© 2003 Mike Maloney 2

 Electromagnetic Waves

When something creates energy it also emits

radiation. Depending on the amount of
energy, the object will emit different
types of electromagnetic radiation.
When we studied mechanical waves, they
were all transferred through a medium.
What medium is light transferred through?
LIGHT DOES NOT NEED ONE!

© 2003 Mike Maloney 3

Electromagnetic Waves
Electromagnetic waves are special in the
fact that they do not need a medium to
propagate through.
But what is creating the disturbance?
What is emitting this energy?
ELECTRONS

© 2003 Mike Maloney 4

 Electromagnetic Waves
Electrons in materials are vibrated and emit
energy in the form of photons, which
propagate across the universe.
Photons have no mass, but are pure energy.
Electromagnetic Waves are waves that are
made up of these “photons”.
When these photons come in contact with
boundaries, E-M waves interact like other
waves would.

© 2003 Mike Maloney 5

Electromagnetic Waves
Electromagnetic waves are everywhere.
Light is only a small part of them

– Radios – Radiation
– TVs – Lasers
– Microwaves – CD/DVD
– Light (Visible/UV/InfraRed) players
– X-Rays

© 2003 Mike Maloney 6

Part 1 – Properties of Light

Light travels in straight lines:

Laser
 Light travels VERY FAST – around
300,000 kilometres per second.

At this speed it can

go around the world 8
times in one second.
Light travels much faster than sound. For example:

1) Thunder and lightning

start at the same time,
but we will see the
lightning first.

2) When a starting pistol

is fired we see the
smoke first and then
hear the bang.
We see things because they
reflect light into our eyes:

Homework
 Luminous and non-luminous objects

A luminous object is one that produces light.

A non-luminous object is one that reflects light.

Luminous objects Reflectors

SSun Chair
Bulbs any opaque object
Candles
 Shadows
Shadows are places where light is “blocked”:

Rays of light
Properties of Light summary

1) Light travels in straight lines

2) Light travels much faster than sound
3) We see things because they reflect light
into our eyes
4) Shadows are formed when light is blocked
by an object
 Interaction of light with matter

Propagation of light refers to the manner

in which an electromagnetic wave
transfer it’s energy from one point to
another.

Three main processes generally occur when

light passes between boundaries from one
medium to another:

Transmission
Reflection
Refraction
 Reflection
Reflection from a mirror:

Normal

Incident ray Reflected ray

Angle of Angle of
incidence reflection

Mirror
 The Law of Reflection

Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection

In other words, light gets reflected from a surface at

____ _____ angle it hits it.

The
same !!!
 Clear vs. Diffuse Reflection

Smooth, shiny surfaces

have a clear reflection:

di = r

Rough, dull surfaces have

a diffuse reflection.

Diffuse reflection is when

light is scattered in
different directions
 Using mirrors
Two examples:

2) A car headlight

1) A periscope
 Refraction

The bending of a wave as it

enters a new medium.

•It is caused by a change in

the speed of the wave as
it moves from one medium
to another
•Greater change in speed =
more bending of the wave
 Total Internal Reflection
Total internal reflection (TIR) is the phenomenon that involves the reflection of
all the incident light off the boundary.
TIR only takes place when both of the following two conditions are met:
•the light is in the more dense medium and approaching the less dense medium.
•the angle of incidence is greater than the so-called critical angle.

critical angl
e
-certain
limiting
angle
 Mirage: It is an optical illusion due to which we see a layer of water
at a short distance in a desert or a road on a hot day.when actually
there is no water at all. Mirage is produced by the total internal
reflection of light in upward direction caused by atmospheric
refraction.:

Optical FiberIt is extremely thin and long strain of glass coated with
thin layer material having lower refractive index. Coating of strain is
called cladding.
Optical fibre work on the principle of total internal reflection. When
light fall on the one end of optical fibre it make an angle greater than
the critical angle and suffer total internal reflection at each face.
After traveling entire length it comes out from another

Brilliance (Shinning)of diamond: For diamond, the value of critical

angle is 23°. When the ray of light incident at each face of diamond
make an angle greater than the critical angle and suffer total internal
reflection at various faces in diamond. That's why diamond shines.
Dispersion of light through prism

Dispersion of Light’ can be defined as the splitting of white

light when it passes through a glass prism into its constituent
spectrum of colors (i.e. violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange
and red). Dispersion figuratively means ‘distribution’ and hence
that’s exactly what is happening in the picture above. The white
light splits into its constituent colors at various frequencies and
various angles.
Formation of rainbow
A rainbow is formed when light (generally sunlight)
passes through water droplets hanging in the
atmosphere. The light waves change direction as they
pass through the water droplets, resulting in two
processes: reflection and refraction.
When light reflects off a water droplet, it simply
bounces back in the opposite direction from where it
originated. When light refracts, it takes a different
direction. Some individuals refer to refracted light as
“bent light waves.” A rainbow is formed because white
light enters the water droplet, where it bends in several
different directions. When these bent light waves reach
the other side of the water droplet, they reflect back
out of the droplet instead of completely traversing the
water. Since the white light is separated inside of the
water, the refracted light appears as separate colors to
 Differences - Periscope and
Kaleidoscope
The periscope is a device for observation. It helps to observe a given object if
the object can not be seen through direct sight with line of sight. Kaleidoscope
is also an optical device which is used for observing the repeated form of
reflection of a given object.
The differences between them are as follows
1.The periscope has two mirrors in its instrumentation while the kaleidoscope has
three.
2.2. The mirrors in periscope are inclined at an angle of 45 degrees in periscope
whereas inclined at 60 degrees in kaleidoscope.
3.3. The periscope is used to observe what is not seen through direct line of
sight whereas kaleidoscope forms repeated reflective image to produce beautiful
patterns.
4.4. The periscope produces the visibility of minimum range where as the
kaleidoscope represent symmetrical pattern with high visibility
 Diffraction
The bending of a wave as it moves around
an obstacle or passes through a narrow
opening is diffraction
 Task 3:Inquire

When did colours /sound start in the movies?

Name of the movies ?
when did it start in India?
What is 3 D movie?
Why do we wear special glasses to watch it?
how does 5 D movies work?
Light from the sun, or an artificial light, travels in a straight line, bounces
off objects and into our eyes through the pupil. Depending on the amount
of light, the iris changes the size of the pupil to let more or less light in.
This is to prevent damage to the eyes, by stopping too much light
entering the eye when it is bright, and maximising the amount of light
entering the eye when it’s dark.

The light then passes though the lens. The lens focuses the light onto the
back surface of the eye, the retina. Depending on how far away the object is,
our lens needs to change shape to keep the light focussed on the retina.

A fatter lens bends light more than a flatter lens. The human eye changes the
shape of the lens as we look at far or near objects to keep them in focus. This
is called accommodation. When we look at a far object, the light does not
need to bend a lot to converge on the retina, so the suspensory
ligaments pull on the lens to make it flat. When we look at a near object, the
light has to bend more to converge on the retina, so the suspensory ligaments
pull less, allowing the lens to spring back into a fatter shape,
 Visible Light

We now know what we see is part of the

electromagnetic spectrum. We know that
the light waves enter our eye, and
stimulate parts of it that cause a electrical
impulse to be sent to the brain which
creates this visual image.
But everything does not emit radiation. How
do we see those things? And why cant we
see a window?
© 2003 Mike Maloney 45
 Colour
White light is not a single colour; it is made
up of a mixture of the seven colours of the
rainbow.

We can demonstrate this by

splitting white light with a
prism:

This is how rainbows are

formed: sunlight is “split up”
by raindrops.
 Seeing things
We know that when waves run into a
boundary they are partially transmitted
and partially reflected.
Light behaves as a wave, so it to is reflected.
Therefore, an object does not need to emit
photons itself to be seen, it just has to
reflect light back to our eyes where we can
detect it.
Objects that do not allow light to pass
through them are called opaque.
Objects that allow light to pass through
them are considered transparent.
Objects in between are called translucent.
© 2003 Mike Maloney 47
 Color
Different objects may emit different
wavelengths of E-M radiation, so we would
see that light as different colors.
But why do we see colors in objects that
reflect light? If you shine a white light on
my clothes, and it gets reflected why
doesn’t all of my clothes appear white?
When I shine white light through a colored
piece of plastic, why does it change color?

© 2003 Mike Maloney 48

 Color
The light we see is know as visible or white
light – although it is not that simple.
The light is not really white, the white we see
is a combination of all the colors of the
rainbow.
Remember R-O-Y G. B-I-V from art class.
When all of these light waves are combined
we see white light.

© 2003 Mike Maloney 49

 Color Reflection
So if we see something as WHITE, that
means …
– It reflected back all the wavelengths of
light to our eyes
If we see something as RED or BLUE
– It reflected only the RED or only the
BLUE wavelengths
– The others were absorbed.
And if we see something as black?
– It did not reflect back any of the light.
© 2003 Mike Maloney 53
 Color Transmission

Filters work in a similar way.

– Red filters only let RED light thru.
– Blue let only BLUE light thru.
What do you think that UV sticker means on
your sunglasses?
Why do they sell those orange glasses that
are supposed to reduce glare?

© 2003 Mike Maloney 54

 Some Sweet Color Tricks
Combining colors in art class
How does color printing work?
Combining lights
Why is the sky blue?
Why are sunsets red?
Why is water greenish-blue?
How does 3-D work?
Why does a CD reflect a rainbow, and a
mirror does not?
How can you help people who are color blind?
OTHERS 🡨 link to site
© 2003 Mike Maloney 55
The colours of the rainbow:

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet
 Adding colours
White light can be split up to make separate colours.
These colours can be added together again.

The primary colours of light are red, blue and green:

Adding blue and red Adding blue and

makes magenta green makes cyan
(purple) (light blue)

Adding red Adding all

and green three makes
makes yellow white again
 Seeing colour
The colour an object appears depends on the colours
of light it reflects.

For example, a red book only reflects red light:

White Only red light

light is reflected
 A pair of purple trousers would reflect purple light
(and red and blue, as purple is made up of red and blue):

Purple light

A white hat would reflect all seven colours:

White
light
 Using coloured light
If we look at a coloured object in coloured
light we see something different. For
example, consider a football kit:

Shirt looks red

White
light

Shorts look blue

In different colours of light this kit would look different:

Red
Shirt looks red
light

Shorts look black

Shirt looks black

Blue
light

Shorts look blue

 Some further examples:

Colour object
Object Colour of light
seems to be
Red Red
Red socks Blue Black
Green Black
Red Black
Blue teddy Blue
Green
Red
Green camel Blue
Green
Red
Magenta book Blue
Green
 Using filters
Filters can be used to “block” out different colours of light:

Red
Filter

Magent
a Filter
 Investigating filters
Colour of filter Colours that could be “seen”
Red RERed

Green Green

Blue Blue
Cyan Green Blue

Magenta Red Blue Violet

Yellow Yellow
 Red Blue Green White

Yellow Cyan Magenta

 Laser
“Laser” is an acronym for light amplification
by stimulated emission of radiation.
A laser is created when the electrons in atoms in special
glasses, crystals, or gases absorb energy from an electrical
current or another laser and become “excited.” atom’s
nucleus. When they return to their normal or “ground” state,
the electrons emit photons (particles of light).
These photons are all at the same wavelength in contrast,
ordinary visible light comprises multiple
Laser light is different from normal light in other ways as well.
First, its light contains only one wavelength (one specific
color). The particular wavelength of light is determined by
the amount of energy released when the excited electron
drops to a lower orbit. Second, laser light is directional.
Whereas a laser generates a very tight beam, a flashlight
produces light that is diffuse. Because laser light is
coherent, it stays focused for vast distances, even to the
moon and back.
 Application of laser
• Computer devices such as laser mouse,
laser presentation, CD ROMs and DVD
ROMs
• Astronomy and communication applications
• Medicine, surgery, and health
• War machines, guns and tanks
• Cutting matters in metallurgy industry and
related industries
• Robotics, especially in image processing
and calculating distances
• Toys
 IDU

https://www.teachengineering.org/lessons/vi
ew/cub_soundandlight_lesson3
Here’s a list of useful resources for workshops, camps and classrooms:

Matilda: Making the Musical — Set and Lights Edition

Mary Poppins: Classroom Edition — Bring Mary Poppins to stage

Lion King: Classroom Edition — Lights and Set

Lion King: Classroom Edition — Sound and Music Edition

Wicked: Behind the Emerald Curtain — Lights Edition

Here’s a list of useful resources for
workshops, camps and classrooms:

Matilda: Making the Musical — Set and Lights Edition

Mary Poppins: Classroom Edition —

Bring Mary Poppins to stage

Lion King: Classroom Edition — Lights and Set

Lion King: Classroom Edition — Sound and Music Edition

Wicked: Behind the Emerald Curtain — Lights Edition

Reflection of the Monologue Competition - IDU activity

1. Which story did you like the most and why (social message)? (min 2)

2. What aspects of light you were able to identify?

(Good and could have been better to enhance the effect)

3. What aspects of sound you were able to identify?

(Good and could have been better to enhance the effect)

4. How important are light and sound to a performance?