EXPERIMENT NO.

3
Light:Light is simply a name for a range of electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the human eye.
Electromagnetic radiation has a dual nature as both particles and waves. It can explained in two ways
Classical Interpretation
According to classical interpretation light is a changing electric and magnetic fields which propagate through
space, forming an electromagnetic wave. This wave has amplitude, which is the brightness of the light, wavelength,
which is the colorof the light, and an angle at which it is vibrating, called polarization. This was the classical
interpretation, crystallized in Maxwell's Equations.
Modern Interpretation
Planck and Einstein and others came along with quantumtheory. In terms of the modern quantum theory,
electromagnetic radiation consists of particles called photons, which are packets ("quanta") of energy which move
at the speed of light. In this particle view of light, the brightness of the light is the number of photons, the color of
the light is the energy contained in each photon, and four numbers (X, Y, Z and T) are the polarization.
Both of the theories had their merit and demerits and it turned out that both of them are correct up to their extent.
Electromagnetic radiation can have both wave-like and particle-like properties as demonstrated in experiments
such as the dual slit experiment.
Light ranges from wavelengths of 7x10-5 cm (red) to 4x10-5 cm (violet) and (like all electromagnetic radiation)
travels at the speed of light, 299,792,458 meters per second or 186,282 miles per second. The speed of light is
actually defined to be 299,792,458 meters per second and scientists combine this with the definition of a second to
create the definition of a meter, as stated at the 17th General conference on weights and Measures, "The meter is
the length of the path traveled by light in a vacuum during a time interval of 1/299,792,458 of a second."

Sources of light
Sources of light are things that give out light. These normally include:

Sun
Stars
Fire
Electric Bulbs
Candles
Lasers
Lightening

Properties of Light
Reflection of Light
When a ray of light strikes a plane mirror, the light ray reflects off the mirror. Reflection involves a change in
direction of the light ray. The convention used to express the direction of a light ray is to indicate the angle which
the light ray makes with a normal line drawn to the surface of the mirror. The angle of incidence is the angle
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between this normal line and the incident ray; the angle of reflection is the angle between this normal line and the
reflected ray.

Refraction of Light
Refraction is the change in direction of a wave due to a change in its transmission medium.

Dispersion of Light
Visible light, also known as white light, consists of a collection of component colors. These colors are often
observed as light passes through a triangular prism. Upon passage through the prism, the white light is separated
into its component colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet. The separation of visible light into its
different colors is known as dispersion.
The refractive indexes for the longer wavelengths (red) are lower than those for shorter wavelengths (violet). This
results in the a greater angle of refraction for the longer wavelengths than for the shorter wavelengths

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Absorption of Light:When light enters a transparent material some of its energy is dissipated as heat energy, and it thus loses some of
its intensity. When this absorption of energy occurs selectively for different wavelengths of light, they light that
gets transmitted through the material will show only those wavelengths of light that are not absorbed. The
transmitted wavelengths will then be seen as color, called the absorption color of the material.

Polarization of Light:Normal light vibrates equally in all direction perpendicular to its path of propagation. If the light is constrained to
vibrate in only on plane, however, we say that it is plane polarized light.

Units of Light:There are many different units for measuring light and it can get very complicated. Some of them are as follows:
Candela
It is the unit of luminous intensity of a light source in a specific direction. It is also called candle. Technically, the
radiation intensity in a perpendicular direction of a surface of 1/600000 square meter of a black body at the
temperature of solidification platinum under the pressure of 101,325 newtons per square meter.

Foot-candle
Unit of light intensity, measured in lumens per square foot. It is the brightness of one candle at a distance of one
foot. Approximately 10.7639 lux
Lumen (lm)
It is the unit of light flow or luminous flux. The output of artificial lights can be measured in lumens.
Lux (lx)
It is the unit of illumination equal to one lumen per square meter. The metric equivalent of foot-candles is one
lux equals 0.0929 foot candles. It is also called meter-candle.

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Modes of Artificial Lighting:Commonly these are categorized into three forms:

Incandescent Light
Incandescent lights use a filament through which an electrical current is run. The filament's resistance causes heat.
Due to this heat, the filament glows like any metal when heated.
Fluorescent Light
Fluorescent lights pass a current through a gas trapped in a glass tube. The electrical current excites the atoms in
the bulbs gas. The electrons in the atoms jump to a higher energy level as the electrical current excites them. As
they fall to their base energy level, they emit photons.
Light Emitting Diode
LEDs are slightly more complicated. Basically LEDs utilizes two semiconductors in close proximity. Electrons jump
the gap between the two semiconductors they lose energy and emit photons.

OBSERVATIONS
Place
Claclass Room
Cocorridor
Lilibrary
Open Atmosphere
Wa washroom

Mea measured Value (Lux)

Sta Standard Value (Lux)D difference(M-S)
961
300
661
39
50
-11
155
300
-145
18900
442
300
142

Recommendations:
The light intensity is class room more than the standard value so shades should be used to avoid excess of
light coming to the class room.

The corridor had less light due to the walls of the rooms on both sides. Bulbs should be used to overcome
the lack of light to meet the standard value

Library had very small light intensity mainly due to the covered windows. During the day the sunlight
should be used properly and light should be allowed to come through the windows.

Washroom light intensity was according to the standard mainly due to the bulbs and light and wind
passage on the walls.

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