Light Year 6

Key Vocabulary Key Knowledge

light A form of energy that travels in a We need light to be able to see things. Light waves travel out from sources of
wave from a source. light in straight lines. These lines are often called rays or beams of light.
light source An object that makes its own light.
Light from the sun travels in a straight line and hits the chair. The light ray
reflection Reflection is when light bounces off is then reflected off the chair and travels in a straight line to the girl’s eye,
a surface, changing the direction of enabling her to see the chair.
a ray of light.

incident ray A ray of light that hits a surface.

reflected ray A ray of light that has bounced

back after hitting a surface.

the law of reflection The law states that the angle of the
incident ray is equal to the angle of
the reflected ray.

The law of The angle of

angle of reflection Light travels as a wave.
reflection reflection is the
states that angle between the But unlike waves of
the angle normal line and reflected ray water or sound waves,
of incidence the reflected ray it does not need a
is equal to the light. medium to travel
angle of reflection. normal line through. This
Whenever light is The angle of means light can
incidence is the travel through
reflected from incident ray
angle between a vacuum - a
a surface, it
the normal line completely
obeys this
and the incident angle of incidence airless space.
law. ray of light.

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Light Year 6

Key Vocabulary Key Knowledge Isaac Newton shone a light through

refraction This is when light bends as it passes a transparent prism, separating
from one medium to another. E.g. out light into the colours of the
Light bends when it moves from air rainbow (red, orange, yellow,
into water. green, blue, indigo and violet) - the
colours of the spectrum. All the
visible spectrum Light that is visible to the human eye. colours together merge and make
It is made up of a colour spectrum. visible light.
prism A prism is a solid 3D shape with
flat sides. The two ends are an equal The spoon in
shape and size. A transparent prism this water looks as if it is bent. This
separates out visible light into all is because light bends when it moves
the colours of the spectrum. from air to water. When light bends
in this way, it is called refraction.
shadow An area of darkness where light has
been blocked.
A shadow is always the same shape
transparent Describes objects that let light travel as the object that casts it. This is
through them easily, meaning you because when an opaque object is in
can see through the object. the path of light travelling from a
light source, it will block the light
translucent Describes objects that things let rays that hit it, while the rest of the
some light through, but scatters light can continue travelling.
the light so we can't see through
them properly.
Shadows can
also be elongated or shortened
opaque Describes objects that do not let any depending on the angle of the light
light pass through them. source. A shadow is also larger
when the object is closer to the light
source. This is because it blocks
To look at all the planning resources linked to the Light unit,
more of the light.
click here.

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