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Properties of Light

This document discusses several key properties of light: Reflection is when light bounces off an object at the same angle. Refraction is when light bends as it passes from one medium to another. Dispersion is when white light separates into the visible color spectrum when passing through a prism. Interference occurs when two waves superpose to form a resultant wave of different amplitude. Diffraction is the bending of light around the edge of an object depending on the wavelength and opening size.

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Steffi Bianca U. Belen
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283 views

Properties of Light

This document discusses several key properties of light: Reflection is when light bounces off an object at the same angle. Refraction is when light bends as it passes from one medium to another. Dispersion is when white light separates into the visible color spectrum when passing through a prism. Interference occurs when two waves superpose to form a resultant wave of different amplitude. Diffraction is the bending of light around the edge of an object depending on the wavelength and opening size.

Uploaded by

Steffi Bianca U. Belen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Melchor Garcia Jr.

BSCRIM 2J

PROPERTIES OF LIGHT

Reflection is when light bounces off an object. If the surface is smooth and shiny, like glass,
water or polished metal, the light will reflect at the same angle as it hit the surface. ... For a
smooth surface, reflected light rays travel in the same direction. This is called specular
reflection.1
Refraction is the bending of light (it also happens with sound, water and other waves) as it passes
from one transparent substance into another.

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.

Total internal reflection, in physics, complete reflection of a ray of light within a medium such


as water or glass from the surrounding surfaces back into the medium.
Interference is the phenomenon in which two waves superpose to form the resultant
wave of the lower, higher or same amplitude. The most commonly seen interference is
the optical interference or light interference. 

Diffraction is the slight bending of light as it passes around the edge of an object. The amount of
bending depends on the relative size of the wavelength of light to the size of the opening. 
Scattering of light is the phenomenon in which light rays get deviated from its straight path
on striking an obstacle like dust or gas molecules, water vapours etc. Scattering of light gives
rise to many spectacular phenomena such as Tyndall effect and the “red hues of sunrise and
sunset”.

Light polarization is a property of light waves that depicts the direction of their oscillations.
A polarized light vibrates or oscillates in only one direction. This is in contrast to a nonpolarized
light that vibrates in many directions.
Monochromatic light is light (optical radiation) where the optical spectrum contains only a
single optical frequency. The associated electric field strength at a certain point in space, for
example, exhibits a purely sinusoidal oscillation, having a constant instantaneous frequency and
a zero bandwidth.
Dipersion Light spreads out after passing through/by an opening/edge. • The opening must be
very narrow for diffraction of light to occur. • The process in which light is separated into its
color due to the differences in degrees of refraction.

Interference s the phenomenon in which two waves superpose to form the resultant wave of the
lower, higher or same amplitude. The most commonly seen interference is the optical
interference or light interference. This means that light waves coming out of a source do not have
a constant amplitude, frequency or phase. • Light can surperimpose and have either constructive
interference or destructive interference. One of the best examples of interference is demonstrated
by the light reflected from a film of oil floating on water. Another example is the thin film of a
soap bubble, which reflects a spectrum of beautiful colors when illuminated by natural or
artificial light sources.

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