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23 hours ago · Rather than absorbing light continuously from a wave, atoms actually receive energy in packets of light called photons, explaining odd observations such as the existence of a cutoff frequency.
- Reflection. Reflection is when incident light (incoming light) hits an object and bounces off. Very smooth surfaces such as mirrors reflect almost all incident light.
- Absorption. Absorption occurs when photons from incident light hit atoms and molecules and cause them to vibrate. The more an object's molecules move and vibrate, the hotter it becomes.
- Diffraction. Diffraction is the bending and spreading of waves around an obstacle. It is most pronounced when a light wave strikes an object with a size comparable to its own wavelength.
- Scatter. Scattering occurs when light bounces off an object in a variety of directions. The amount of scattering that takes place depends on the wavelength of the light and the size and structure of the object.
- Change of Speed Causes Change of Direction
- Lenses
- Refraction Can Create A Spectrum
- Rainbows
Light refracts whenever it travels at an angle into a substance with a different refractive index (optical density4). This change of direction is caused by a change in speed. For example, when light travels from air into water, it slows down, causing it to continue to travel at a different angle or direction. How much does light bend? The amount of...
A lens5 is simply a curved block of glass or plastic6. There are two kinds of lens. A biconvex7lens is thicker at the middle than it is at the edges. This is the kind of lens used for a magnifying glass. Parallel rays of light can be focused in to a focal point. A biconvex lens is called a converging lens. A biconcave lens curves is thinner at the ...
Isaac Newton performed a famous experiment using a triangular block of glass called a prism. He used sunlight shining in through his window to create a spectrum of colours on the opposite side of his room. This experiment showed that white light is actually made of all the colours of the rainbow8. These seven colours are remembered by the acronym R...
A rainbow is caused because each colour refracts at slightly different angles as it enters, reflects off the inside and then leaves each tiny drop of rain. A rainbow is easy to create using a spray bottle and the sunshine. The centre of the circle of the rainbow will always be the shadow11of your head on the ground. The secondary rainbow that can s...
May 24, 2024 · Mathematics and experiments show that light is a transverse wave – the electric and magnetic field vectors point in directions that are perpendicular to the direction of motion of the light wave (and as it turns out, they also rare always perpendicular to each other). Figure 2.1.1 – Electromagnetic Wave. The red arrows in the figure above ...
Jun 7, 2023 · Red light waves bend the least, so their path stays closer to a straight line. That leaves red at the top of the rainbow. Violet light waves bend the most when passing through the prism, so that hue dips down to the bottom. The other colors of the rainbow end up in between red and violet, based on how much their waves bend.
Find the index of refraction for medium 2 in Figure 25.3.3a, assuming medium 1 is air and given the incident angle is 30.0 ∘ and the angle of refraction is 22.0 ∘. Strategy. The index of refraction for air is taken to be 1 in most cases (and up to four significant figures, it is 1.000). Thus n1 = 1.00 here.
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Reflection, refraction and diffraction are all boundary behaviors of waves associated with the bending of the path of a wave. The bending of the path is an observable behavior when the medium is a two- or three-dimensional medium. Reflection occurs when there is a bouncing off of a barrier. Reflection of waves off straight barriers follows the ...
