Physics Chapter 16

Fundamentals of Light
16.1 Illumination
Ray Model of Light
-Newton believed light to be a stream of fast moving, unimaginable tiny particles which he
called corpuscles
-ray model of light - light is represented as a ray (arrow) that travels in a straight path
-model works regardless of light being described as a wave or a particle

Sources of Light
Luminous - an object which emits light waves such as the sun, stars, molten lava
Illuminated - a body which reflects light waves produced by an outside source

Types of Illuminated Objects

-opaque - media which do not transmit light but reflect some light
-transparent - media which transmit light (examples are air and glass)
-translucent - media that transmit light but do not permit objects to be seen clearly

Quantity of Light
Luminous flux (P) is the rate at which light energy is emitted from a luminous object
has units of lumens (lm)
Illuminance (E) -the amount of light energy hitting a surface
measured in units of lux (lx) which is lumens/meter squared

An Inverse Square Relationship

-as light spreads out in all directions from a point source, the intensity of the light decreases as
the square of the distance from the point source increases (see page 434)
-if distance between source and surface is doubled, illumination decreased by a factor of 4

Illumination on a Surface (E) (units of lux, lx)

have general equation (P has units of lumens, r meters, E has units of lux, lx)

-some light sources rated in candela (cd) as a unit of luminous intensity

-specified to be the amount of light if distance is exactly 1.0 meter

- has the equation: (units of lux, distance in meters)

-a second more useful formula which is a modification of the above equation is:

(distance may be in any unit, since cancel out)

-device called a Jolly Photometer used to manually compare light sources

Problems:
1. A lamp is moved from 30 cm to 90 cm above the pages of a book. Compare the luminous intensity of
the book before and after the lamp is moved.

2. What is the illumination on a surface 3.00 meters above a 150 watt incandesce lamp that emits a
luminous flux of 2275 lm? [150 watt value not used in problem calculations]

3. A 64.0 cd point source of light is 3.00 meters above the table. What is the illumination on the desk's
surface?

4. The illumination on a tabletop is 20.0 lx. The lamp providing the illumination is 4.00 meters above the
table. What is the intensity, in candles, of the lamp?

5. Two lamps have the same intensity of illumination on a wall when one lamp is 3.75 meters from a wall
and the other is 8.75 meters from the wall. If the nearer lamp has a rating of 70.0 candles, what is the
candle power of the second lamp?

6. Two lamps are 28 and 54 candle power. The lamps are 5.00 meters apart. At what point on the
straight line passing through the lamps will the illumination by each be equal. [specify lamp]
The Speed of Light
Galileo - unsuccessful in measuring its speed
-important because he did introduce the idea that light moved at a finite speed
Roemer - first to determine an approximate speed of light (220 million meters per second)
-value came from observations of Jupiter's moons
-while velocity finite, light can circle the Earth 7.5 times per second
Michelson - an American physicist
-correctly measured the speed of light at approximately 3 x 108 m/s
-used a Foucault apparatus and an octagonal mirror to measure light speed
-measured time for light to travel between two mountains 35.0 km apart
-won a Nobel prize for his work
-currently speed of light with symbol "c" defined as 299 792 458 m/s
-most used rounded value of 3 x 108 m/s

16.2 The Wave Nature of Light

Diffraction and the Wave Model of Light
Grimaldi - observed the diffraction of light - the bending of light around a barrier
-noted that the shadow produced by a pinhole of light not sharp around the edges
Huygens - argued (against Newton) in favor of a wave model of light to explain diffraction
-see diagram on page 439

Color
-Newton first to discover white light could be separated into different colors
-performed experiments on the colors produced when light put through a glass prism
-was able to take light and pass it through a first prism to separate light into its colors, then pass
light through a second prism to reproduce white light
-now know light has wave properties and that each color of light is associated with a different 
-light is a region in the electromagnetic spectrum which our eyes can detect between 700
and 400 nanometers (nm)
-light in the visible spectrum is R O Y G B I V in order from longest to shortest wavelength

Color By Addition
Primary Colors - colors red, green, and blue
-can be mixed by the additive process in certain intensities to produce white light
-can also be mixed to from three different colors
Second Colors (pigments used in color printers)
red + green = yellow
blue + green = cyan
red + blue = magenta
Complementary Colors - two colors which combine to produce white light
yellow and blue
cyan and red
magenta and green

Colors by Subtraction
-an object's color is caused by the color which that object reflects
-a red object reflects red and absorbs all other colors
-a black object absorbs all colors
-a white object reflects all colors
-in blue light a red shirt appears black and a white shirt appears blue, for an American flag
the blue star would be blue, the red stripes black, and the white stripes blue
Dye - a molecule that absorbs certain wavelengths of light and transmits or reflects other wavelengths

Pigment - is a colored material that absorbs certain colors and transmits or reflects other colors
-generally absorbs one color and reflects two
Yellow absorbs blue reflects red and green
Cyan absorbs red reflects blue and green
Magenta absorbs green reflects blue and red

Secondary Pigment - absorbs two colors

Red absorbs green and blue reflects red
Green absorbs red and blue reflects green
Blue absorbs red and green reflects blue

From Demonstration - See diagram to the right

_________________ 7. What is the color for region B?

_________________ 8. What is the color for region C?

_________________ 9. What is the color for region D?

_________________ 10. What is the color for region E?

Identify as Primary or Secondary

________________ 11. What color type is region B?

________________ 12. What color type is region C?

________________ 13. What color type is region D?

________________ 14. The color in region B is the complementary color to which color?

________________ 15. What happens if two complimentary colors are projected together at the correct
intensities onto a white screen?

________________ 16. The color in region C is complementary to which color?

Colors in our Homes

-perceived color of an object affected by the type of light providing illumination
-in our homes, often objects not illuminated by white light - color changes
-has an affect in department and furniture stores
-need to be aware of type of light being used for illumination
-light in parking lots may affect perceived color of cars
-light inside may affect your appearance, skin color, etc.
Formation of Colors in Thin Films
-colors on water surface with thin coat of oil results in thin film interference
-colors caused by a difference in thickness of film which causes constructive and destructive
interference
-if thickness is will form a reflected wave which is inverted constructive interference with
new wave - reflects the appropriate color

Polarization of Light
-a separation of light into waves which are parallel to each other
-see diagram on page 443
-polarizing filters eliminate approximately 50% of light
-exact calculation can be made using Malus's Law on page 444
-often used in sun glasses to reduce glare
-only way of detecting polarized light is with a polarizing filter

Concept Questions:

17. Suppose astronauts made a soap film in the space shuttle. Would you expect an orderly set of colored
lines, such as those observed on Earth? Explain

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18. Photographers often put polarizing filter over the camera lens to make clouds in the sky more visible.
The clouds remain while the sky looks darker. Explain this using polarized light.

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19. An apple is red because it reflects red light and absorbs green and blue light. Explain the following
observations:
(a) red cellophane looks red in reflected light

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(b) red cellophane looks red when light is allowed to shine through it

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(c) what happens when blue light is shown through red cellophane - why?

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(d) what happens when green light is shown through red cellophane - why?

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20. You place a piece of red cellophane over one flashlight and a piece of green cellophane over a
second flash light. You shine the light beams on a white wall. What color will you see where the two
flashlight beams overlap? Explain

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21. If you have yellow, cyan, and magenta pigments, how can you make a blue pigment? Explain

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