CHAPTER 1: LIGHT

1 • Light
2 • Reflection of light
3 • Refraction of light
4 • Dispersion of light
5 • Scattering of light
6 • Addition and Subtraction of light
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What is light?
Light is produced by the Sun,
and by objects such as light
bulbs and matches.

Light carries energy

and travels as a wave.

Light travels at a speed of

300,000,000 metres per
second, which is much faster
than the speed of sound.

Light waves travel in

straight lines.

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Light energy
Light is a form of energy and can be changed from one form
into another.

Light energy can be used to make other useful forms of energy.

It can be converted into electrical energy in a solar cell or
chemical energy in the leaves of plants.

solar cell plants 4

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How do we see things?
An object that gives out light is described as luminous.
How does light from a luminous object such as a light bulb
reach the eye?

Light travels in a
straight line directly
into the eye.

An object that does not give out light is non-luminous.

How does your eye see a non-luminous object such as a
comb?
Light hits the comb
and some of it is
reflected into the eye.

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Transparent, Translucent and Opaque Materials

TRANSPARENT MATERIALS TRANSLUCENT MATERIALS

OPAQUE MATERIALS 6
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Transparent objects allow you to see clearly
through them. Some examples are:

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Translucent objects only let some light through
them. You cannot see clearly through a
translucent object. Some examples are:

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Opaque objects do not let any light through them.
You cannot see through them. Some examples of
opaque objects are:

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Fill in the blanks

• An object that allows all light to pass through it is

called……………………

• An object that allows just some light to pass

through it is called……………………

• An object that allows no light to pass through it is

called…………………………

translucent transparent opaque

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 ( Pantulan cahaya )

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Reflective materials

Objects that reflect light well:

 Have smooth, shiny surfaces
and are usually pale colours.
 Give clear images because they
reflect light regularly.

Objects that do not reflect light well:

 Have rough, matt surfaces
and are usually dark colours.
 Give diffuse images (or do not
give any images) because they
reflect light irregularly. This is
called scattering.
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 Reflection

• Normal
• Incident Ray
• Reflected Ray

• When a light ray hits a non-luminous object, it is either reflected or

absorbed.

• The light ray which hits the object is called the incident ray.

• The light ray which bounces off is called the reflected ray.

• The normal to a surface is a line that runs the perpendicular to the

surface.
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 Normal

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 Normal
Incident ray

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 Normal
Incident ray Reflected ray

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 Normal
Incident ray Reflected ray

Øi Ør

Øi = Angle of incidence

Ør = Angle of reflection

Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection

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Laws of Reflection
1. First Law of Reflection states that the incident ray,
reflected ray and the normal all lie in the same plane.

2. Second Law of Reflection states that the angle of

incidence, i ,is equal to the angle of reflection, r.

i r

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Reflection on Plane Mirrors
• Surface is smooth.
• Light is reflected completely.
Characteristics of image …
 Upright
Image Object
 Virtual
=

=  Laterally inverted
 Same size as object.
 Same distance from
the mirror as the
object.

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What is lateral inversion?
A plane mirror reflects light
regularly so it produces a clear
image, which is the same size
as the object.

The image appears the same

distance behind the mirror as
the object is in front of it.

What is different about the

image compared to the object?

When an object is reflected in a plane mirror, left appears

as right and right appears as left. This type of reversal is
called laterally inverted.
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Using reflection
Reflection can be very useful.
High-visibility strips are very
reflective and make sure that
this cyclist gets noticed when
there is little light.
How does a periscope use
reflection?

The two plane mirrors

must be positioned at 45°
from the vertical. Light is
reflected at right angles
from the top mirror onto
the bottom mirror and into
the eye of the viewer.
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Refraction

• Refraction is the bending of light when it enters from

one medium into another medium.

• It is caused by the different speeds of light in different

media.

• The greater the optical density of the medium, the slower

the speed of light.

• Light slows down when it enters an optically denser

medium. The refracted ray bends towards the normal
when the second medium is optically more dense than
the first.
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Why is light refracted?
1. The speed of light depends on the material through which the light is
travelling.

2. When light enters a different material (ex: when moving from air into glass),
the speed of light changes.

3. This causes the light to bend or refract.

air
glass

3. The speed of light is affected by the density of the material

through which it is travelling.

4. When light enters a more dense medium, its speed decreases and this is why
refraction occurs.

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From air to water… LIGHT

When the light ray travels

Incident ray from air to water, the
refracted ray bends towards
the normal.
normal
i
Second medium is optically
air more dense than the first.
water
r
i – angle of incidence
r– angle of refraction
Refracted ray

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From water to air… LIGHT

When the light ray travels

from water to air, the
Refracted ray refracted ray bends away
from the normal.
normal
r Second medium is
air optically less dense than
the first.
water
i
i – angle of incidence
Incident ray r– angle of refraction

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From air to glass, then from glass to air… LIGHT

During refraction,
light bends first on
passing from air to glass
and again on passing
from the glass to the air.

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From air to glass, then from glass to air…

Incident ray
normal

Angle of incidence

Angle of refraction

Refracted ray

Angle of emergence Emergent ray

normal

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Laws of Refraction

1. The incident ray, the refracted ray and the

normal all lie in the same plane.

2. For two particular media, the ratio of the sine, n

of the angle of incidence (i) to the sine of the
angle of refraction (r) is a constant.

sin i
n (Snell’s Law)
sin r
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Daily Phenomena of Refraction

• Swimming pool and

ponds appear shallower
than it really is.

• Object is at a deeper
depth than where it
appears to be.

• Bent objects in liquids

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Effects of refraction
Light from the part of the pencil in the
water is refracted as it travels from the
water into the air, making it appear bent.

How does refraction make this

stone look closer to the surface
of the water than it really is?

Light rays from the stone are

refracted as they leave the water.

The brain assumes the rays

have travelled in straight lines,
and is fooled into forming an
image where it thinks the light
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Effects of refraction – the Archer fish
The archer fish is a predator that shoots jets of water at
insects near the surface of the water.

The archer fish allows image of

prey
for the refraction of
light at the surface
of the water when
aiming at its prey.

The fish does not

aim at the refracted prey
image it sees but at location

a location where it
knows the prey to be.

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 ( Penyebaran cahaya )

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What are the colours of
the rainbow?

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 Dispersion of Light

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Dispersion of Light (splitting of light)

1. When white light goes through a

prism, it splits up into all the
colours of the rainbow. This is
called a spectrum.

2. Dispersion occurs because

different colours of light refract
differently. Red light refracts the
least; violet light the most

3. This is how we get rainbows.

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White light contains the colours:

Red - R
Orange - O
Yellow - Y
Green - G
Blue - B
Indigo - I
Red is refracted the least
Violet - V

Violet is refracted the most

All the colours are refracted by different amounts

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Natural dispersion
If there are water droplets in the air and the sun is illuminating
them from behind, then you may see a rainbow in the air.

Light enters the water

droplets and refracts. It
then reflects off the back
of the rain drop.

The red light refracts

the least and the
violet the most. This
causes dispersion of
the sunlight.

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 ( Penyerakan cahaya )

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Please refer to your science/ IGCSE textbook !!!

“Scattering Of Light”

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 ( Penambahan dan Penolakan cahaya )

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Please refer to your science/ IGCSE textbook !!!

“Addition & Subtraction

Of Light”

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