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The word “ray” comes from mathematics and here means a straight line that originates at some point. Figure 25.1.1 25.1. 1: Three methods for light to travel from a source to another location. (a) Light reaches the upper atmosphere of Earth traveling through empty space directly from the source. (b) Light can reach a person in one of two ways.
- Prelude to Geometric Optics
When light interacts with an object that is several times as...
- The Law of Reflection
The law of reflection is illustrated in Figure...
- Prelude to Geometric Optics
Light rays that reflect follow the law of reflection. The law of reflection states that the angle of reflection * is equal to the angle of incidence. Light rays that pass through an interface are transmitted rays. These rays bend. This bending is called refraction. The direction and magnitude of refraction depends on the relative densities of ...
Section Summary. A straight line that originates at some point is called a ray. The part of optics dealing with the ray aspect of light is called geometric optics. Light can travel in three ways from a source to another location: (1) directly from the source through empty space; (2) through various media; (3) after being reflected from a mirror.
- Introduction
- Quotes
- Causes
- Function
- Behavior
Imagining light as a ray makes it easy to describe, with great accuracy, three well-known phenomena: reflection, refraction and scattering. Let's take a second to discuss each one.
Of course, we live in an imperfect world and not all surfaces are smooth. When light strikes a rough surface, incoming light rays reflect at all sorts of angles because the surface is uneven. This scattering occurs in many of the objects we encounter every day. The surface of paper is a good example. You can see just how rough it is if you peer at ...
Refraction occurs when a ray of light passes from one transparent medium (air, let's say) to a second transparent medium (water). When this happens, light changes speed and the light ray bends, either toward or away from what we call the normal line, an imaginary straight line that runs perpendicular to the surface of the object. The amount of bend...
Lenses, like those in a telescope or in a pair of glasses, take advantage of refraction. A lens is a piece of glass or other transparent substance with curved sides for concentrating or dispersing light rays. Lenses serve to refract light at each boundary. As a ray of light enters the transparent material, it is refracted. As the same ray exits, it...
Unfortunately, a ray theory can't explain all of the behaviors exhibited by light. We'll need a few other explanations, like the one we'll cover next.
See Answer. A ray of light drawn from the sun's position at 7 pm to the distant window reflects off the window and travel to the observer's eye. On the other hand, a ray of light drawn from the 1 pm sun position to the window will reflect and travel to the ground, never making it to the distant observer's eye. 4.
Section Summary. A straight line that originates at some point is called a ray. The part of optics dealing with the ray aspect of light is called geometric optics. Light can travel in three ways from a source to another location: (1) directly from the source through empty space; (2) through various media; (3) after being reflected from a mirror.
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A mirror is a smooth reflective surface. Parallel rays of light that reflect off of a mirror can continue to travel parallel to each other, diverge (spread apart), or converge (come together) after reflection. These three scenarios are shown in Figure 28.7. Each ray of light reflects off of the mirror following the law of reflection.
