Propagation of

Light
Photon Theory of
Light
OBJECTIVES
After going through this module, you
are expected to:
 describe what happens when light is
reflected, refracted, transmitted and
absorbed ;
 calculate the frequency of light
Lesso Reflection and
n1
Refraction of Light
The Dual Nature Of Light: Light
Act as a Wave and a Particle
 Greeks believed that light is
composed of corpuscles or tiny
particles emitted from a light
source known as
“ Corpuscle Theory of
Light”.

 This theory was used by Sir

Isaac Newton to explain the
propagation of light through
reflection and refraction

Christian Huygens, a
Dutch Scientist in 1678, describe
light as a wave known as the
“Wave theory of Light”.
 During his time, it gains no
acceptance.

 However, another scientist like

Thomas Young discovered
that light exhibits interference
behavior which supports the
Wave theory.
In 1865, Clerk
Maxwell stated
that
electromagnetic
waves travel
with the speed
of light.
 20th century, Max
Planck and Albert
Einstein describe that
hot bodies emitted,
radiation and electrons are
also emitted by a metal
exposed to light, this idea
supported the Particle or
Corpuscle Theory of Light.
Today, light is viewed
having a dual nature.
Reflection of Light
  Lighttravels in a straight line
when it goes in a single medium.

However, when it travels from one

medium to another it can either
reflected or refracted or both.
Figure 8.1 shows that a normal
line is drawn perpendicular to
the mirror at the point of
incidence. The ray of light
that strikes the mirror is
known as the incident ray
, and makes an angle of
incidence, known as I,
with the normal. And that
the light that is reflected
from the point of
incidence or known as
reflected ray, makes an
angle of reflection or
known as r, with the
normal.
 Laws of
Reflection
 The incident ray, the
reflected ray, and the
normal line perpendicular
to the reflecting surface
at the point of incidence,
all lie on the same plane.
 The angle of incidence is
equal to the angle of
reflection or i=r.
 The kind of reflection
depends on nature of the
surface.

Regular reflection= occurs

when light strikes in smooth
surface, reflection is parallel
Diffuse reflection= occurs
when light strikes on rough
surface, so light is reflected at
different angles, an irregular
reflection is observed.
Refraction of
Light
Have you asked why pencil seems
to bend on water?
 Light
travels in straight line in the
same medium like in air with a speed
of 3x 108 m/s.

However when light enters another

medium like water, it speed
decreases to 2.26 x 108 m/s, so light
slows down and bend.
 Refraction is the
change in velocity of
light as it enters
another medium.

 When light obliquely crosses the

boundary between air and water, it
bends toward the normal because
water is optically denser than air.

 When light is incident to the

boundary between air and water at
90 with the boundary at parallel to
the normal, there is no bending of
light observed
Factors that Affect the
Propagation of Light
 1.Nature of material

2. Smoothness of material

3.The angle at which the ray of light

is incident on the surface
1.Nature of material
 Transparent materials
like glass and water allow
light to be transmitted
through them.
 Opaque materials reflect,
absorb or partly
absorbing and partly
reflecting.
2. Smoothness of material
 Very smooth materials
reflect light in regular
directions.
 Rough materials reflect
light in many random
directions, diffuse
reflection, that provides
light in shaded places
where there is no direct
lighting..
3.The angle at which the ray of
light is incident on the surface
DISPERSION OF
LIGHT
DISPERSION OF LIGHT

 The phenomenon
of splitting of a
beam of white light
into its seven
constituent colours
when passed
through a
transparent
medium.
 It was discovered by Isaac Newton
in 1666 that light is made up of
seven different colours.

 He passed a beam of sunlight

through a glass prism.

 The glass prism split the light into

a band of seven colours on his wall.

 He called this band of colours the

‘spectrum’.
 Thusthe spectrum is a band of
seven colours which is obtained
by splitting of white light by a
glass prism.
 Theorder of colours from the
lower end of spectrum is violet
(V), indigo (I), blue (B), green
(G), yellow (Y), orange (O),
and red (R). The sequence of
the 7 colours so obtained in a
spectrum can be remembered by
using the acronym ‘VIBGYOR’
 The formation of rainbow is the most enchanting
example of dispersion of light which takes place
naturally.
 Usually a rainbow of seven colours is seen in the
sky just after the rain when the Sun is shining.
 Actually after the rain, a large number of water
droplets remain suspended in the atmosphere.
 These droplets of water function as small prisms.
So, when the white light emitted by Sun falls on
these water droplets, then the white light is split
into seven colours and rainbow is formed.