Light- Reflection & Refraction
When rays of light strike on a various surfaces or pass through materials, they do so in patterned manner. Reflection (bouncing off surfaces) and refraction, or bending, are two essential behaviors of light. Through the knowledge of how mirrors, lenses, and ray diagrams, the students will be able to appreciate how light travels and produces images.
1. Mirrors
Mirrors scatter light in order to create images. The different type of mirror influences the image to appear.
Types of Mirrors:
Plane Mirrors: Flat mirrors that form upright, virtual images, equal in size to the object.
Concave Mirrors: Concavely shaped; can display the real or virtual images depending upon object's position.
🪞 Ray Diagram: Concave Mirror
Convex Mirror
Convex Mirrors: Projecting outwards; always producing smaller; virtual images.
Laws of Reflection:
Angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
The incident ray, reflected ray and normal line lie in the same plane.
2. Lenses
Light is refracted through lenses thus to form images.
Types of Lenses:
Convex (Converging) Lenses: Bend the light rays inward; they can produce a real or a virtual image.
Convex Lens
Concave Lens
Concave (Diverging) Lenses: Diffuse outward the light rays; always produce virtual images.
Applications:
Lenses are applied in eyeglasses, cameras, microscopes and telescopes.
3. Ray Diagrams
Ray diagrams are straightforward drawings that can be used to represent the way light travels and interacts with mirrors or a lens, to form an image.
Uses of Ray Diagrams:
Determine the location, size and the nature of the image (real or virtual).
Suggest the trajectory of particular rays (parallel ray, focal ray, central ray).
Steps to Draw:
Find out the object position with regards to the mirror or lens.
Draw at least two rays depending on rules of reflection or refraction.
Find where the rays intersect or seem to intersect and there the image forms.
📝 Quiz: Light, Mirrors & Lenses
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