Unit

1
Light

Mirage Phenomenon

Unbend Light
Cool Air
Bend Light

Observer
Warm Air
Ground

Mirage Hot Surface

Learning Objectives
The students will be able to
™™ understand that light is an energy
™™ differentiate natural and artificial light sources
™™ understand rectilinear propagation of light
™™ understand formation of shadows
™™ know reflection of light and its types
™™ know the laws of reflection
™™ understand the properties of the images formed in a plane mirror
™™ understand dispersion and spectrum
™™ understand synthesis of colors

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 Introduction Natural Sources of light
When you enter into a dark room, nothing Sources which emit light naturally are
is visible. The moment you switch on the light, known as natural sources of light. The Sun is the
everything in the room becomes visible. How primary and the major source of natural light.
do we see things with our eyes? When you look Stars also produce light, in the same way as the
at this book, the light falling on the book is Sun do. However, as they are much farther away
reflected and enters your eyes. Light is a type of than the Sun, the light from them are too weak.
energy that helps us to see all the things around The moon provides light, particularly in the
us. Light can be detected by the human eye. We night. Some living organisms have the ability
all know that light is essential for vision. Let us to produce light named by bioluminescence.
see more about light in this chapter It is the effect of certain chemical reactions
occurring in the organism. Fireflies, jellyfish,
Light is the only source of glow worm, certain deep sea plants and some
energy for plants. So, they microorganisms can emit light naturally.
entirely depend on light.
People and animals derive energy from Artificial Sources of light
carbohydrates, protein and fat through their Apart from the natural sources, light can
food. Plants produce food using the energy also be produced artificially. The different light
from Sun light, carbon-di-oxide and water sources that are able to produce light artificially
by the process called as Photosynthesis. can be put under three broad categories.
Sun light acts a vital role in the process of
photosynthesis. Is the moon a luminous
object?
The moon provides light as
well, but it cannot produce
light by its own. The light emitted by the
Moon is the light of the Sun reflected
towards the Earth. When we see the Moon,
we see only the Moon’s lighted part. Thus,
half of the moon is always facing the Sun and
receiving light from it. Hence, we receive
Sources of Light. light from the moon.
Objects which are able to emit light are
known as light sources. Light rays can come
from different sources. There are two types of
sources of light.
1. Natural sources of light
2. Artificial sources of light

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 Artificial sources are man – made light sources Properties of light
such as flame of candle, incandescent lamp,
In this section, we shall examine some
neon lamp, Sodium lamp etc.
properties of light. Light has some fundamental
1. Incandescent Sources: When certain objects properties as mentioned below
are heated to a high temperature, they begin to
™™ Rectilinear propagation of light
emit light. The glowing of hot iron rod is a kind
of Incandescent light. ™™ Reflection
Example: Candle, incandescent lamp. ™™ Speed
2. Gas Discharge Sources: Passing electricity
™™ Interaction of light with matter
through certain gases at a very low pressure
(discharging) can produce light . • T
ypes of material according to
permeability
Example: Neon lamp, Sodium lamp
• Formation of shadows

We often use a kind of gas- • Plane mirror and images

discharge lamp that uses
™™ Spectrum
fluorescence to produce visible
light. The electric current in the The path of light
gas excites mercury vapour, which produces
How does light travel?
short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes
a phosphor coating on the inside of the lamp • H
 ave you ever seen the scene of light
to glow in visible light. penetrating through the branches of
trees in denser forest?

• H
 ave you ever seen the path of sun light
entering through the hole of a cement
grill building?

• H
 ave you ever seen the path of a laser
light?

Light penetration through Light travels through the holes in

Laser beam
trees cement grill

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 ACTIVITY 1
Requirement: Three empty match boxes, pin, candle and wooden blocks.

Procedure: Arrange empty match boxes and wooden blocks as shown in the figure. First, you
make a hole in the inner tray of each match box such that all three holes are in the same spot.
Arrange the match boxes as shown in figure. Now, adjust the three inner trays in such a way that
the three holes are in a straight line. Place a lighted candle at one end of this arrangement and try
to see the flame of candle from a hole at the other end. Is the flame visible?
Now, arrange the trays such a way that they are not at the same height. Try to see the flame.
Is it visible? What does this activity tell you about the path of light?
Light travels in straight line, it cannot bend the path itself. This is called as the
rectilinear propagation of light. This is one of the most important property of light.

Pinhole Camera
Al-hasan -Haytham was a
scientific thinker who made Pin hole camera is a simple device which
important contribution to helps us to understand about the rectilinear
the understanding of vision, propagation of light
optics and light. He observed that light
X
coming through a tiny hole
travelled in straight lines
and projected an image onto Translucent
the opposite wall. Based on Screen

such experimentation, he O
Y’

concluded that vision is Pin Hole

Object Y
accomplished by rays coming from external X’
Box Inverted
luminous sources and entering the eye, Image

rather than through rays emitted from the

The above picture shows a model of a pin
eye as was then commonly believed. He is
– hole camera. O is small hole by a pin. XY is
the first one to experiment with light and
the object and Y'X' is the image of XY. As light
found important properties like the
travels in straight line, one light ray from X
rectilinear propagation of light.
travels along the XO strikes the screen X'.

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 ACTIVITY 2
Make your pin-hole camera
Requirement : Two rectangular pieces of thick paper, carbon paper, a semi-transparent paper,
adhesive
Procedure : Make two tubes using thick
paper as shown in figure. One tube should be
slightly smaller in diameter so that it can slide
into the other tube without leaving much gap
between the tubes. Fix a carbon paper to one side
of the tube of greater diameter. Make a hole with
a pin at the center of the carbon. Close one end
of the second tube with the butter paper. Slide the smaller tube into the bigger one such a way
that the butter paper is inside. Keep a lighted candle on a table and look through the hole with
black side towards the candle. If you go closer to the candle, you will see a smaller, but brighter
image. You can also change the image size by adjusting the tubes.
Use the pin­-hole camera to see things in sun light outside the window and see how good an
image you get. What are your observations about the image? Is it straight, inverted, bright and
sharp?

In similar way, another light ray staring

from Y and travels along YO strikes the screen Before the advancement
Y'. Similarly, all the rays in between X and Y of camera, Pinhole camera
fall on the screen between Y' and X'. Thus Y'X' was used to photograph
becomes the image of XY. The image produced movement of the sun over a
is temporary, if a simple paper is used. The
long period of time. This type of photography
image can be made permanent if the paper is
is known as solography and also be used
replaced by a photographic plate.
for observing and recording solar eclipses.
Reflection And it was also used to take photograph of
A mirror reflects our face. stationary objects.
A still water body like a pond
reflects the scenery around
it. When we see our face in
the mirror, we see the light rays from our face
bouncing off the surface of the mirror. How the
rays of the light are reflected?

Take a plane mirror. Cover it with black

paper. Cut a small slit as shown in the figure. If

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 you shine light on the mirror from a torch light Now, try keeping the mirror with slit and
or sunlight, you will get a small ray of light. We make the incident ray go along line 2. Now do
can use this to study the properties of light. we see that the reflected ray is along line 3?
Line BD, which is perpendicular the mirror
surface is called as normal. The angle between
the incident ray and the line BD is called
angle of incident. Similarly, the angle between
reflected ray and the normal is called as angle
of reflection.
Can you make out relationship between the
C
angle of incident ray and the angle of reflected
B
4 ray? Yes. Is it not obvious that the angle of
3 incident is same as the angle of reflection?
A 30º

1 60º 2
D Terms used in reflection of light.
P N Q
Angle of Angle of
Place a blank white sheet on a level ground Incidence Reflection
i r
out in the open. Choose a place where partly the
sheet gets sunlight and partly it is in shadow.
Hold the mirror with the slit facing the sun. You
Incident Ray Reflected Ray
can see a straight ray of light reflected from the
O
slit on the paper. Hold another mirror to reflect
Reflecting Surface
this ray. Observe well.
Incident ray: The ray of light that falls on the
The light falling on the mirror is called
surface of the reflection materials. In figure, PO
as incident ray and the light reflected is called
is the incident ray.
reflected ray..
Reflected ray: The ray of light that comes
Is there any relationship between the from the point when the incident ray falls on
incident ray and reflected ray? the reflection material. In the figure, OQ is the
Draw a straight line ABC and angles as reflected ray.
shown in the figure above. The line 1 is at 60O
Point of incidence : The point of which are
from BD, 2 at 30O from BD. Now , the line 4 at incident ray strikes the reflecting surface is the
60O from BD and line 3 at 30O from BD. The line point of incidence. In the figure ‘O‘ point of
BD is perpendicular, to ABC. Hold the mirror incidence.
along the line ABC. Use the mirror with slit and
Normal : The perpendicular line drawn from
make a ray go along the line 1 and reach the
the point of incidence to the plane of reflecting
mirror at point B. Observe where the reflected surface is called normal. In figure, ON is the
ray is? Is the reflected ray go along 4? normal.
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 Angle of incidence: The angle formed between i
P Q
the incident ray PO and the normal ‘ON’ is
angle of incidence. It is denoted by i r
Angle of reflection: The angle formed between X
430
the reflected ray OQ and the normal ON is
x D y
angle of reflection. It is denoted by i

Laws of reflection: a) Angle of incidence: i = 90 -43 = 47 °

1. The angle of incidence is always equal to b) angle of reflection r = i = 47°

the angle of reflection. i = r c) i + r = 47 + 47 = 94 °

2. The incident ray, the reflected ray and d) x = 90 - r = 90 - 47 = 43 °

the normal at the point of incidence lie
on the same plane.
ACTIVITY 3
Example 1 Make your own periscope : You can
In the figure, the incident ray makes 27° with use an empty agarbathi box and two plane
the normal, then find the angle of reflection. mirrors to make a periscope.
As shown in the figure below, two plane
D
A C mirrors are kept 45 degrees to horizontal.

270
?

x B y

Solution:
Angle of incidence = 27°
\ According to the laws of refelection, the
angle of refelection = Angle of incidence = 27°
Example 2:
A light ray strikes a reflective plane surface
at an angle of 43° with the plane surface.
As shown the figure above, the light rays
i. Find the angle of incidence.
from the distant object enter through the tube
ii. Find the angle of reflection.
at 1, and hit the mirror at 2. As the angle of
iii. Find the angle between the incident and
incident must be equal to angle of reflection,
the reflected ray
the reflected rays flow through the tube
iv. Find the angle between the reflected ray
downwards. As the light rays hit the mirror at
and the plane surface.
3 once again they are reflected. This reflected
Solution:
rays then travel out of the box to our eye. As you
We use the diagram shown below to answer
can see, periscope uses the laws of reflection.
the questions.

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 Types of reflection the normal in the same direction. Therefore a
On a mirror we can see our image, but not set of parallel rays striking the surface will be
on the wall. Why? Both the surface reflects light. reflected at an angle, but the rays themselves
Only because the reflected light comes to our will still remain parallel to each other.
eyes, we are able to see it. If the wall was not However ,consider a surface which is not
reflecting light, then we cannot see it. smooth. Such as the surface of a wall. What
happen when the light ray hits the rough
surface? Roughness of the wall means that
each individual ray meets a surface which has
a different orientation. The diagram below
We saw earlier that the light reflects off depicts the case. Five incident rays labelled as
surfaces in a very predictable manner, in A, B, C, D and E approach a surface. The normal
accordance with the law of reflection. The laws of line at each point of incidence is shown in black
reflection holds good for all surfaces irrespective and labelled with an N. In each case, the law of
of the shape. Vertical surfaces, angled surfaces, reflection is followed, resulting in five reflected
and even over the curved surfaces, the laws of rays labelled A', B', C', D', and E'. While the
reflection holds good. As long as we can draw incident rays were parallel to each other, the
the normal, perpendicular to the surface at the reflected rays are going in different directions.
point can be drawn, the angle of incidence at The result is that the rays of light are incident
that point will be equal to angle of reflection. upon the surface in a concentrated bundle and
are diffused upon reflection.

Diffuse Reflection
(Rough surface) Broadly, we can say that there are two types
of reflection. If the surface is smooth then we
have specular reflection. The parallel light rays
striking the surface gets reflected, yet individual
reflected rays remain parallel.
If the surface is rough, then we have
Specular Reflection
diffused reflection. Light rays, after reflection
(Smooth surface)
go in many directions.
The law of reflection is always observed
In fact during the day, our class room is
regardless of the orientation of the surface. If the
illuminated by sunlight . Walls and floors are
surface is smooth, and flat, all points on it have
exposed to diffused reflection. Suppose walls

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 Parallel rays Convergent rays Divergent rays

were smooth mirror like. Then sunlight entering Speed of light:

through the window will get bounced by the When lighting a bulb in a dark room, light
floor at an angle above towards the roof. And it spreads the whole room quickly. This is because
will never get reflected to left or right. That is left the light travels very fast. Light travels three
and right walls will remain dark. However walls lakh kilometers per second in air or vacuum. In
and floors are not smooth surfaces. Therefore, theory , nothing can travel faster than light
incident light from the window get bounced in
all directions that the whole room is illuminated Interaction of light with matter
with diffused light. Take a piece of clear glass, a paper and a
metal sheet. Shine a light from one side of each
Types of beam of light object and see if the light penetrate on the other
Generally light is not a single ray, but a side. Readily, we can see light enters and comes
bundle of rays which are called as a beam of out of the other end of clear glass, whereas the
light. light is bit dim through a paper. Light does not
pass through metal sheet. Depending upon
A light beam can be a bundle of parallel
permeability, materials can be classified into
rays, convergent rays or divergent rays. Let us
three categories.
look at the light coming from the Sun. The rays
of sunlight are parallel. Often the headlight of Transparent Material:
car gives parallel rays. However look at the rays Materials that allow light to pass through
of light coming out of a candle. Light rays go in completely are known as transparent material.
all directions, from the candle fire. These rays
Example: Eye glasses, clear drinking
are divergent. Light rays from a flash light is also
glass, clear water, face glasses used in buses.
divergent. Using lenses we can converge light
rays. Using a lens, you can focus sunlight at a Translucent Material:
point. That is what we are making the light rays Objects that allow light to pass through
to converge. partially are called translucent material. For
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 example, we cannot see the image of someone Opaque Material:
who stands behind a rough window glass, Materials that are not able to allow light
because it allows only a part of light from the to pass through, are called opaque material.
person. Example: Wall, thick card board, stone, etc.

ACTIVITY 4
Let’s categorize transparent material, translucent material and opaque material among the given
materials
(Clear plastic ruler, cellophane paper , some water in a glass jar, tissue paper, drinking glass,
beaker, tap water, kerosene, coconut oil, note paper, card board, milk, diluted milk, aluminum
foil, thick colored plastic lid, rough glass piece, measuring glass with water, wooden piece)
Place all the materials given above in the dark room. Focus a torch light on one side of each
material. Inspect the light coming out at the other side of each material and then classify the
materials in the table.
S. No Transparent Material Translucent Material Opaque Material

Shadows is called as umbra. When an opaque object is

placed in the path of light coming from a broad
How are shadows formed?
source of light, a small umbra will appear on the
As we saw earlier, light
screen and an illuminated shadow area appears
is obstructed by certain
around umbra. This illuminated shadow area
materials. Light travels in a
is called as penumbra. The penumbra always
straight line. Hence it cannot go around such
surrounds the umbra. The umbra is the darkest
objects. That is why we see shadow. Shadow is
part of a shadow. In this part, light rays are
always against, opposite side of light source. It
completely prevented by the opaque object. The
is caused by opaque objects that stop light from
lighter shade of shadow is the penumbra.
propagating.
Properties of shadow
Parts of shadow 1. All objects do not form shadows. Only opaque
When an opaque object is placed in the objects form shadows
path of light from a point source, a uniform dark 2. Shadows will be formed in the opposite side
shadow will appear on the screen. This is shadow of light source

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 3. It cannot be determined the characteristics of 5. Light source, opaque object are shadow all are
an object by its shadow. in a straight line.
4. The shadow will be always darker, whatever 6. The size of shadow depends upon the distance
may be the color of light rays between light source and object and the
distance between object and the screen.

Arrangement Activity Observation You Learn

Place a lighted A shadow Light rays are
Shadow bulb in front of a with a spot passing only
rectangular card light appears through the
Light Spot
board with a hole in the screen. hole and are not
Hole Screen at the center allowed by the
Lighted Bulb Card board
remaining part of
card board
Place a pencil in A shadow of The size of
the path of light pencil appears the shadow is
ray coming from in the screen proportional to
Shadow a bulb the size of the
Screen opaque objects.
Lighted Bulb Pencil

ACTIVITY 5
Requirement : A white screen, a cylindrical opaque object and three
bulbs in different sizes.
Use the three different size lamps and examine the umbra and
penumbra formed. Keep the distance between the lamp and the
cylinder, cylinder and the screen same. As the size of the lamps grow
smaller, the umbra region begins to enlarge. If the size of the lamp is
a point, then there will be no penumbra. There would be only umbra
shadow. Can you tell what the reason is for that?

Eclipses lunar eclipses are occurring that are due to

An eclipse is an incident, when any the property of light known as the rectilinear
astronomical object is partially or fully obscured propagation of light.
due to the placement of another astronomical
object in the presence of light. Thus, solar and

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 Solar eclipse Lunar eclipse
Solar eclipse occurs, when the moon arrives Lunar eclipse: Lunar eclipse occurs, when
between the sun (S) and the earth(E). The the earth (E) comes between the sun (S) and
shadow of the moon appears on the earth at A the moon (M). The earth prevents light coming
as shown in picture. Hence, those who are at from the sun and makes shadow on the moon.
the region A are unable to see the Sun instantly. This is lunar eclipse
This is solar eclipse. But, those who are at the
region B and C are able to see the sun partially. Lunar eclipse
Solar eclipse

S E M

TRY THIS

ACTIVITY 6

Surfaces Property of Image (Clearer / blurred)

Glass
Metal Sheet
Aluminum foil
White paper

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 Plane Mirror and Reflection
A polished (or) smooth surface (like glass)
which forms image by reflection is known as
mirror. A plane mirror is a mirror with a flat
reflective surface. A plane mirror makes an
Image of objects in front of it.

• The image is upright.

• The image and the object are the same size.
• The image is virtual.

•The image is laterally inverted. The

boy’s left hand is his image’s right
hand.

•We can determine the position of an

object’s image by drawing light rays.

a b
•The distance of the object from the mirror
is equal to the distance of the image from
the mirror (a=b).

The ray of light AO from the boy head The incident ray makes an
strikes the mirror at point O. AO is angle of incidence. i. with the
called the incident ray. perpendicular line ON.

Incedent ray
A i

N O

E r
Reflected ray

The light ray OA strikes the surface The lline, ON, perpendicular to
and is reflected as OE. OE is called the surface is known as the
the refelected ray. This ray makes an normal.
angle of reflection r with normal.

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 Optical fibre is a device that Receiver

works on the principle of total Optical Fibre Electrical

internal reflection by which light output signal
Transmitter
signals (huge data) can be transmitted from one
place to another place with a negligible loss of Light ray
trapped in the
energy in a very short time. It consists of a cable Electrical core of the fibre
input signal
having one or more thin flexible fibers with
a glass core through which light signals can be sent. Optical
fiber can be twisted and bent easily. When a light a ray of light
is incident at one end of the core of optical fiber, it suffers
total internal reflection at the many places inside the fiber
and emerges at the other end with negligible loss of energy.
The data or information in the form of pulses of light, can be
sent through bundles of optical fibers. Optical fibers have become very important in high-speed
communications, such as cable TV and high-speed broadband services. Fiber optic cables are able
to carry more signals than traditional copper cable telephone lines.

Real and virtual images

ACTIVITY 7
We have seen images being formed in a
There are eight letters in the word
pinhole camera and a mirror. Can we see what
EINSTEIN
is different in both of these images? Firstly, the
image of the pinhole camera was formed on a 1. Write the word in front of a plane mirror
screen. While the image made by the mirror shown in diagram
is not obtained on a screen. The images that 2. Write down how these letters appear in the
are obtained on a screen are called ‘real image’ mirror
and that which cannot be obtained on a screen
3. How many of these letters appear to be
‘virtual image’. Also notice that the image on
different, when the word is reflected?
pinhole camera was upside down. While the
mirror image was upright. 4. Write down the letters that appear to be
the same.
Properties of Image formed in a plane
mirror
Image formed in a plane mirror is upright
Image formed in a plane mirror is virtual
The image is of the same size as the object
The distance of the image from the plane
mirror is equal to the distance of the object
from the mirror
Image is laterally inverted.

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 15

7th Std - Social Science Term III Economics Uni 1 [Link] 11-11-2019 12.39.29 PM
 Colour the same time, our brain perceives white. This
Colour of sunlight : Light is a form of shows, white is not a colour at all. But, it is the
energy in the form of a wave that simulates that combination of all the colors of the visible light
retina of our eyes. Visible light is a spectrum of spectrum. If all the wavelength (colours) of
a number of waves with different wavelength visible light spectrum give appearance of white
range from 400nm to 700nm (1nm = 10-9 metre) similarly, the observe of all there wavelength of
each wave has a definite wavelength represents visible light, will lead appearance of black
a particular color. The band of visible light is What is prism?
VIBGYOR. A prism is an object made up of a
V - Violet transparent material, like glass or plastic that
has at least two flat surfaces that from an acute
I - Indigo
angle (less than 90O degrees).
B - Blue
G - Green
Y - Yellow
O - Orange
R - Red

Violet colour has shorter wavelength and

red color has longer wavelength.
ACTIVITY 8
When light ray of particular wavelength
(Colour) strikes the retina of our eye, our brain We have seen that white light is made of
perceives that specific colour. When all colors different colors and we can split white light.
of visible light strikes the retina of our eye at Is it possible to do the reverse? That is, can
you get white color by mixing colors? Try this
activity.
Why is the word
You need oil pastel and white paper.
“AMBULANCE” written
Take different oil pastel colors. Choose colors
backwards in ambulance
which are exactly seen on the rainbow. Apply
vehicle? This is due to
colors over each other on a white paper. Did
lateral inversion .The
you get white color?
phenomenon due to which
the left side of an object
appears to be right side
of the object in its image
in a reflecting medium
(mirror). so that drivers
see the word the right way
around in their rear-view mirror

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 Difference between the images formed in Pinhole camera and Plane mirror

Images formed by Pin hole camera Images formed in Plane mirror

The image is real The image is virtual
The image may not be equal to the size of the The image is equal to the size of the object
object
The image is inverted The image is erect

ACTIVITY 9
Let’s make a rainbow
You must surely have seen a rainbow in the sky. Why don’t you try making one at your class
room?
Place a flat but deep pan. Place this pan where there is
direct sunlight. Place a plain mirror in the pan as shown in the
diagram, so that you see sunlight reflected on you ceiling or on
a white wall. Next slowly pour water in to the pan. At particular
level of water, you will get a beautiful rainbow colors on the wall. If the colors are not clear adjust
the position of the mirror to bring it into focus. This arrangement of colors in sunlight is called
spectrum.

Why danger lights in vehicles are red in colour?

1. Red color is scattered the least by air molecules.

2. Red color has the highest wavelength of all the other colors. So red color
is able to travel the longest distance through air, fog.

When white light is passed through a prism white. Using this disc, one can explain that
as shown in the figure, the colors of the rainbow white is a combination of VIBGYOR
emerge from the prism.

Newton Disc:
Newton suggested a process of mixing
different colors to make white color by setting
an arrangement as shown figure below. Newton
Disc is a card board disc with seven equal
sectorscolored red, yellow,orange, green,
blue, indigo and violet. When the disc turned
quickly, the retina receives the sensation of
the spectrum simultaneously and disc appears

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 ACTIVITY 10

You need Gelatin papers of Red, Blue and Yellow. Fold each gelatin paper three times and
look different color objects listed below through each folded paper. Observe what color each
object has. Write your observations in the table.

Object Original color of Color through Color through Color through

object Red gelatin paper Blue gelatin Yellow gelatin
paper paper

Blue sky

Orange flower

Yellow banana

leaves

Brown trouser

White shirt

Black board

We know that white shirt will reflect white • Magenta, Cyan and yellow are called secondary
light and we have seen that white light consists colour.
of different colours. When we look at the white Colour Synthesis
shirt through the yellow gelatin paper, we see
it as yellow in color. From this, we can say that
the yellow gelatin paper did not allow any other
color except yellow to pass through. Similarly,
Additive Subtractive
we conclude that red gelatin paper allows only
Red Cyan
red light and blue gelatin paper allows only the
Green Yellow
blue light. Blue Magenta
White Black
Synthesis of colour
Synthesis of colour is the method of 1 Red + 1 Blue = Magenta
creating colour by mixing various proportion 1 Blue + 1 Green = Cyan
of two (or) three distinct colours of light. These 1 Green + 1 Red = Yellow
distinct colours are Red, Green and Blue called •Equal proportions of all three primary colour
as primary colours. create white.
• Equal proportions of two primary colour 1 Red + 1 Blue + 1 Green = White
create a secondary color.
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 floor and irregular reflection in wooden
EVALUATION table
c. regular reflection takes place in both
polished floor and wooden table
d. irregular reflection takes place in both
polished floor and wooden table

I. Choose the correct option 6. Choose the translucent substance from the
1. L
ight travels only in a . It is following
because of this property that a. glass b. wood
are formed c. water d. Clouds
a. curved line, shadows 7. Reflection occurs , when the light
b. straight line, shadows
a. about to reach a surface
c. straight line, reflection
b. approaches a surface
d. curved line and then straight line,

shadows c. passes through a surface

2. Light that hits a mirror gets d. None of these

a. Transmitted 8. Which of the following is the best reflector

b. Reflected of light?
c. Absorbed a. plastic plate
d. Refracted b. plane mirror
c. wall
3. Surface reflects the light
d. paper
well.
a. water 9. Sivarajan placed a meter stick in the
b. compact disc playground at 7.00 am in the morning. How
c. mirror will the shadow of the stick at noon look in
d. stone comparison to the one in the morning

4. Light is a form of a. There will be no shadow

a. matter b. Th
 e shadow will be longer and on the
opposite side as the sun
b. energy
c. medium c. Th
 e shadow will be shorter and on the
same side as the sun
d. particle
d. The shadow will be shorter
5. You can see your image in polished
floors, but not in wooden table because 10. The image formed by a pinhole camera is in-
verted because,

a. r egular reflection takes place in wooden a. light travels in straight lines

table and irregular reflection in polished b. light rays become laterally inverted as
floor they pass through a pinhole camera
b. regular reflection takes place in polished c. light rays pass through the pinhole

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 d. light rays get reflected 3. The image formed by the plane mirror is
11. Which of the following facts explain how laterally inverted, hence the image seen
shadows are formed? through the periscope is also laterally in-
verted
a. Light travels in straight lines
b. Opaque bodies do not allow light to pass 4. We see planets because they reflect light
through them from the sun
c. Reflection occurs at a smooth surfaces
like mirrors 5. We see a book because it reflects the light
d. Lateral inversion happens that falls on its surface
a. both A and B
6. The image formed in a pinhole camera is
b. both A and D
always inverted
c. both B and C
d. only A 7. The image formed in a pinhole camera is
always the same size as the object
II. Fill in the blanks
8. The image formed in a plane mirror is
1. A plane mirror produces a ____________ upside down
image
9. A plane mirror is opaque
2. A ____________ reflection helps us to see
the objects 10. A shadow is formed on the same side of the
object as the source of light.
3. The light ray gets ____________ when it
falls on any polished surface. 11. we are able to see things around us with the
help of regular reflection
4. Sunlight is a blend of ____________ colors
12. After passing through a prism, white light
5. The splitting of white light in to seven colors splits into a band of seven colours
is called ____________
IV. Match the following
6. The moon ____________ sun light
1. Rectilinear Primary source
7. The sunlight can be split into its constituent -
propagation of light
colors using ____________
Non-luminous
8. Reflection of light from rough surface is 2. Plane Mirror -
object
called ____________ reflection
3. Fire fly - Periscope
III. Say TRUE or FALSE 4. The Moon - Pinhole camera
1. The image of right hand in a plane mirror 5. Wide light source - Spectrum of light
looks like a left hand 6. Regular reflection - luminous object
7. The sun - Penumbra
2. Rainbow is formed by dispersion of which
8. Band of seven colors - Glossy surface
light by water drops

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 V. Answer the following questions in
Sources of Light Objects that reflect light
short
1. With the help of a diagram, state the laws of
reflection

2. Figure shows a pencil placed above a mirror

Pencil 13. A boy of height 1m 45 cm is standing in

Eye front of a long mirror at a distance of 2 m.
From this information, fill up the following
sentences:
a. The distance between the boy and his image
Mirror
is
a. Draw its image formed by the mirror
b.The height of the image is
b. S how how light rays from the object are
reflected at the mirror to form the image c. 
When the boy moves 1m forward, the
for the eye. distance between her and her image is

3. A person is looking at the image of a tree in

14. Draw a diagram of a pin hole camera
a mirror placed 3.5 m in front of him. Given
showing the rays of light passing between
that the tree is at 0.5 m behind his eyes. Find
the Object and its image
the distance between the image of the tree
and his eyes. What are needed to see an 15. Why is the writing on the front of an
object? ambulance back to front as shown in the
4. What are luminous objects? picture?

5. Is the moon a luminous object?

6. What are the three types of materials based

on the absorption of light?

7. What are the parts of shadow?

8. What are the properties of shadow?

16. Explain with examples, why some capital
9. What is plane mirror? letters look the same in a mirror but others
10. What is prism? are reversed.

11. What do you mean by visible light? 17. Two plane mirrors M1 and M2 are placed
perpendicular with each other, as shown in
12. Write the items given here in the correct
figure. The ray AB makes an angle 39 ° with
column (Stars, brick walls, plants, mirror,
the plane mirror M1, then
planets, electric light bulb,candle)

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 A 24. What is a shadow? What things are necessary
for the formation of a shadow?

B VI. Answer the following questions in

D detail
M1
1. What are regular and irregular reflection?
Explain with the help of diagrams

C 2. What are the difference between luminous

M2
and non-luminous objects? Give two
1. The reflected rays are , examples of each.

2. The incident rays are , 3. Write about two everyday situations that tell
you that light travels in a straight line.
3. What is the angle of incident corresponding
4. Differentiate between a reflection and a
to the ray BC?
shadow
4. What is the angle of reflection corresponding
5. What are the characteristics of an image
to the ray CD
formed in a plane mirror?
18. Rajan was playing with the mirror images of 6. Describe the pictures.
a clock. He looked at the clock in his room.
A
It was showing 1:40. Draw the position of
the hands on the real clock and on its mirror B
reflection. Write below the picture what
time each picture is showing.

19. What is reflection of light?

20. If a ray of light is falling on a plane mirror at 7. Define the following terms
an angle of 500 is formed, what will be the a. Incident ray
angle of reflection?
b. Reflected ray
21. What do you mean by lateral inversion? c. Normal
d. Angle of incidence
22. How do you obtain a spectrum of light?
8. Compare the images formed by plane mirror
23. Why do we see white color in Newton’s disc,
with that by pinhole camera
when we rotate it very fast?

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 ICT CORNER

LIGHT

Explore the activity to know about

law of reflection.

PROCEDURE :

Step 1: Type the following URL in the browser or scan the QR code from your mobile
to open the activity page.
Step 2: Click the torch to see how the light ray reflects off the mirror and drag the torch to
different angles. You can learn the angle of incidence at that point will be equal to
angle of reflection.
Step 3: Next Scroll down and select the prism. Click the torch how the prism changes the
path of the light ray.

Step 1 Step 2 Step 3

Step 4

Light URL:
[Link]

*Pictures are indicative only

*If browser requires, allow Flash Player or Java Script to load the page.

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 [Link]

UNIT

3 LIGHT

Learning Objectives
After the completion of this lesson, students will be able to:
‹‹acquire knowledge about various types of mirrors.
‹‹understand image formation in spherical mirrors.
‹‹know about the applications of spherical mirrors.
‹‹acquire knowledge about laws of reflection.
‹‹compare regular and irregular reflections.
‹‹understand the working principle of kaleidoscope and periscope.
‹‹understand refraction and dispersion of light.

Introduction 3.1 Mirrors

Lofty mountains covered with greenish We use mirrors in our daily life for various
vegetation, magnificent trees reaching the purposes. Mainly, we use them for beautifying
clouds, beautiful streams drifting down the us. The mirror is an optical device with a
valleys, bluish sea water roaring towards the polished surface that reflects the light falling
coast and the radiant sky in the morning being on it. A typical mirror is a glass sheet coated
filled with golden red color, all give delight to with aluminium or silver on one of its sides
to produce an image. Mirrors have a plane or
our eyes and peace to our mind. But, can we see
curved surface. Curved mirrors have surfaces
them all without light? No, because, we can see
that are spherical, cylindrical, parabolic and
things around us only when the light reflected
ellipsoid. The shape of a mirror determines
by them reaches our eyes. What is light? the type of image it forms. Plane mirrors
Light is a form of energy and it travels in form the perfect image of an object. Whereas,
a straight line. You have studied in your lower curved mirrors produce images that are either
classes, how it is reflected by the polished enlarged or diminished.
surfaces such as plane mirrors. This reflecting
Method of coating a glass plate
property of light is applied in various devises
with a thin layer of reflecting
that we use in our daily life. In this lesson, you
metals was in practice during
will study about types of mirrors like spherical
the 16 century in Venice, Italy. They used
th
mirrors and parabolic mirrors. You will also
an amalgam of tin and mercury for this
study about the laws of reflection and the laws of
purpose. Nowadays, a thin layer of molten
refraction and some of the optical instruments,
aluminium or silver is used for coating glass
such as periscope and kaleidoscope, which
plates that will then become mirrors.
work on these principles.
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Mirrors

Plane mirrors Curved mirrors

Spherical mirror Cylindrical mirror Parabolic mirror Ellipsoid mirror

3.1.1 Spherical mirrors a convex mirror. The image formed by these

mirrors is smaller than the object. Most common
Spherical mirrors are
convex mirrors are rear viewing mirrors used
one form of curved mirrors.
in vehicles.
If the curved mirror is a
part of a sphere, then it is
called a ‘spherical mirror’. 3.1.2 Parabolic mirrors
It resembles the shape of a A parabolic mirror, which is in the shape
piece cut out from a spherical of a parabola, is one type of curved mirror.
surface. One side of this mirror is silvered and It has a concave reflecting surface and this
the reflection of light occurs at the other side. surface directs the entire incident beam of
Reflective surface Reflective surface light to converge at its focal point.
In the same way, light rays generated by
the source placed at the focal point will fall
on this surface and they will be diverged in
a direction, which is parallel to the principal
axis of the parabolic mirror. Hence, the light
Concave mirror Convex mirror
rays will be reflected to travel a long distance,
Figure 3.1 Sperical mirrors
without getting diminished.
Concave mirror Parabolic mirrors, also known as parabolic
A spherical mirror, in which the reflection reflectors, are used to collect or project light
of light occurs at its concave surface, is called a energy, heat energy, sound energy and radio
concave mirror. These mirrors magnify the object waves. They are used in reflecting telescopes,
placed close to them. The most common example radio telescopes and parabolic microphones.
of a concave mirror is the make-up mirror. They are also used in solar cookers and solar
water heaters.
Convex mirror
A spherical mirror, in which the reflection
of light occurs at its convex surface, is called

Convex mirrors used in

vehicles as rear-view mirrors
are labeled with the safety
warning: ‘Objects in the mirror
are closer than they appear’. This is because
inside the mirrors, vehicles will appear to be
coming at a long distance. Figure 3.2 Parabolic mirror
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(concave mirror) at or appear to diverge from

The principle behind the (convex mirror) a point on the principal axis.
working of a parabolic mirror This point is called the ‘focus’ or ‘principal
has been known since the focus’. It is also known as the focal point. It is
Greco-Roman times. The first mention of
denoted by the letter F in ray diagrams.
these structures was found in the book,
‘On Burning Mirrors’, written by the Focal length
mathematician Diocles. They were also The distance between the pole and the
studied in the 10th century, by a physicist principal focus is called focal length (f) of a
called Ibn Sahl. The first parabolic mirrors spherical mirror.
were constructed by Heinrich Hertz, a There is a relation between the focal
German physicist, in the form of reflector length of a spherical mirror and its radius of
antennae in the year 1888. curvature. The focal length is half of the radius
of curvature.
3.2  Terms related to Radius of curvature
Focal length = .
Spherical Mirrors 2
In order to understand the image formation
in spherical mirrors, we need to know about
some of the terms related to them.
Center of Curvature
It is the center of the sphere from which
the mirror is made. It is denoted by the letter C
in the ray diagrams. (A ray diagram represents
the formation of an image by the spherical
Figure 3.3 Terms related to a spherical mirror
mirror. You will study about them in the higher
classes). Problem 1
Pole The radius of curvature of a spherical
It is the geometric centre of the spherical mirror is 20 cm. Find its focal length.
mirror. It is denoted by the letter P. Solution
Radius of Curvature Radius of curvature = 20 cm
It is the distance between the center of Radius of curvature
Focal length (f) =
the sphere and the vertex. It is shown by the 2
letter R in ray diagrams (The vertex is the point R 20
= = = 10 cm
on the mirror’s surface where the principal axis 2 2
meets the mirror. It is also called as ‘pole’).
Problem 2
Principal Axis
Focal length of a spherical mirror is
The line joining the pole of the mirror and
7 cm. What is its radius of curvature?
its center of curvature is called principal axis.
Solution
Focus
Radius of curvature (R) = 2 × Focal length
When a beam of light is incident on a = 2 × 7 = 14 cm
spherical mirror, the reflected rays converge
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Depending on the position of the object in front

3.3  Images formed by
of the mirror, the position, size and nature of the
Spherical Mirrors
image will vary. Table 3.2 provides a summary of
Images formed by spherical mirrors are images formed by a concave mirror.
of two types: real image and virtual image. You can observe from the table that a
Real images can be formed on a screen, while concave mirror always forms a real and inverted
virtual images cannot be formed on a screen. image except when the object is placed between
Image formed by a convex mirror is always the focus and the pole of the mirror. In this
erect, virtual and diminished in size. As a position, it forms a virtual and erect image.
result, images formed by these mirrors cannot
be projected on a screen.
Activity 1
The characteristics of an image are
determined by the location of the object. As Take a curved silver spoon and see the image
the object gets closer to a concave mirror, the formed by it. Now, turn it and find the image
image gets larger, until attaining approximately formed. Do you find any difference? Find
the size of the object, when it reaches the centre out the reason.
of curvature of the mirror. As the object moves
away, the image diminishes in size and gets
gradually closer to the focus, until it is reduced
to a point at the focus when the object is at an
infinite distance from the mirror. The size and
nature of the image formed by a convex mirror
are given in Table 3.1.
Concave mirrors form a real image and it
can be caught on a screen. Unlike convex mirrors, Outside Inside
Spoon Spoon
concave mirrors show different image types.

Table 3.1 Image formed by a convex mirror

Position of the Object Position of the Image Image Size Nature of the Image
Highly diminished,
At infinity At F Virtual and erect
point sized
Between infinity and
Between P and F Diminished Virtual and erect
the pole (P)

Table 3.2 Image formed by a concave mirror

Position of the Object Position of the Image Image Size Nature of the Image
At infinity At F Highly diminished Real and inverted
Beyond C Between C and F Diminished Real and inverted
At C At C Same size as the object Real and inverted
Between C and F Beyond C Magnified Real and inverted
At F At infinity Highly magnified Real and inverted
Between F and P Behind the mirror Magnified Virtual and erect

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and stores. They are usually mounted on a wall

3.4  Applications of Curved
or ceiling where hallways make sharp turns.
Mirrors
3. They are also used on roads where there
Concave mirror are sharp curves and turns.
1. Concave mirrors are used while applying
Activity 2
make-up or shaving, as they provide a
magnified image. List out various convex and concave mirrors
2. They are used in torches, search lights and used in daily life.
head lights as they direct the light to a long
distance.
3.5 Laws of Reflection
3. They can collect the light from a larger area
and focus it into a small spot. Hence, they
Activity 3
are used in solar cookers.
4. They are used as head mirrors by doctors to Take a plane mirror and focus the light
examine the eye, ear, nose and throat as they coming from the Sun on a wall. Can you see
provide a shadow-free illumination of the a bright spot on the wall? How does it occur?
organ. It is because the light rays falling on the
5. They are also used in reflecting telescopes. mirror are bounced onto the wall. Can you
produce the same bright spot with the help
of any other object having a rough surface?

Not all the objects can produce the same

effect as produced by the plane mirror. A ray of
light, falling on a body having a shiny, polished
and smooth surface alone is bounced back.
This bouncing back of the light rays as they fall
on the smooth, shiny and polished surface is
called reflection.
Reflection involves two rays: incident ray and
Figure 3.4 Uses of concave mirror reflected ray. The incident ray is the light ray in a
Convex mirror medium falling on the shiny surface of a reflecting
1. Convex mirrors are used in vehicles as body. After falling on the surface, this ray returns
rear view mirrors because they give an into the same medium. This ray is called the
upright image and provide a wider field of reflected ray. An imaginary line perpendicular to
view as they are curved outwards. the reflecting surface, at the point of incidence of
the light ray, is called the normal.
2. They are found in the hallways of various
The relation between the incident ray, the
buildings including hospitals, hotels, schools
reflected ray and the normal is given as the
laws of reflection. The laws of reflection are as
follows:
• The incident ray, the
reflected ray and the
normal at the point of
incidence, all lie in the
Figure 3.5 Uses of Convex mirror same plane.
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• The angle of incidence (i) and the angle of

reflection (r) are always equal.

Normal
Incident ray Reflected ray

Regular Reflection
Incident rays Reflected rays
i r
Mirror

Figure 3.6 Reflection of light

Silver metal is the best ­reflector

of light. That is why a thin ­layer
of silver is deposited on the Figure 3.7 Regular reflection
side of materials like plane glass sheets, to
3.6.2 Irregular reflection
make mirrors.
In the case of a body having a rough or
irregular surface, each region of the surface is
3.6 Types of Reflection inclined at different angles. When light falls
on such a surface, the light rays are reflected
We have learnt that not all bodies can at different angles. In this case, the angle of
reflect light rays. The amount of reflection of incidence and the angle of reflection of each
light depends on the nature of the reflecting
surface of the body. Based on the nature of
the surface, reflection can be classified into
two types namely, regular reflection and
irregular reflection.

3.6.1 Regular reflection

When a beam of light (collection of

parallel rays) falls on a smooth surface, it
gets reflected. After reflection, the reflected
rays will be parallel to each other. Here, the
angle of incidence and the angle of reflection
of each ray will be equal. Hence, the law of
reflection is obeyed in this case and thus a
clear image is formed. This reflection is called
‘regular reflection’ or ‘specular reflection’.
Example: Reflection of light by a plane mirror
and reflection of light from the surface of still
water. Figure 3.8 Irregular reflection
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ray are not equal. Hence, the law of reflection of 360°, then the total number of reflections
is not obeyed in this case and thus the image is finite. If θ (Theta) is the angle of inclination
is not clear. Such a reflection is called ‘irregular of the plane mirrors, the number of images
reflection’ or ‘diffused reflection’. Example: 360°
formed is equal to θ – 1 . As you decrease
Reflection of light from a wall. this angle, the number of images formed
increases. When they are parallel to each
3.7 Multiple Reflections other, the number of images formed becomes
infinite.
Activity 4
Problem 3
Take two plane mirrors and keep them
If two plane mirrors are inclined to each
perpendicular to each other. Place an object
other at an angle of 90°, find the number of
between them. You can see the images of
images formed.
the object. How many images do you see in
the mirrors? You can see three images. How Solution
is it possible to have three images with two Angle of inclination = 90°
mirrors?
Number of = 360° – 1 = 360° – 1 = 4 -1 = 3
images formed θ 90°
360° 360°
–1= – 1 = 4 -1 = 3
θ 90°

3.7.1 Kaleidoscope
It is a device which functions on the
principle of multiple reflection of light, to
produce numerous patterns of images. It has
two or more mirrors inclined to each other. It
can be designed from inexpensive materials.
In the activity given above, you observed
The colourful image patterns formed by this
that for an object kept in between two plane
will be pleasing to you. This instrument is used
mirrors, which were inclined to each other, as a toy for children.
you could see many images. This is because,
the ‘image’ formed by one mirror acts as an
‘object’ for the other mirror. The image formed
by the first mirror acts as an object for the
second mirror and the image formed by the
second mirror acts as an object for the first
mirror. Thus, we have three images of a single
body. This is known as multiple reflection. This
type of reflections can be seen in show rooms
and saloons.
The number of images formed, depends
on the angle of inclination of the mirrors. If
the angle between the two mirrors is a factor Figure 3.9 Kaleidoscope

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Uses
Activity 5
• It is used in warfare and navigation of the
Take three equal sized plane mirror strips submarine.
and arrange them in such a way that they • In military it is used for pointing and
form an equilateral triangle. Cover the
firing guns from a ‘bunker’.
sides of the mirrors with a chart paper. In
• Photographs of important places can
the same manner cover the bottom of the
mirrors also. Put some coloured things such be taken through periscopes without
as pieces of bangles and beads inside it. Now, trespassing restricted military regions.
cover the top portion with the chart paper • Fibre optic periscopes are used by doctors
and make a hole in it to see. You can wrap the as endoscopes to view internal organs of
entire piece with coloured papers to make it the body.
attractive. Now, rotate it and see through its
opening. You can see the beautiful patterns.
Caution: Be careful while handling the glass
pieces. Do this under the supervision of
your teacher.

3.7.2 Periscope
It is an instrument used for viewing bodies
or ships, which are over and around another
body or a submarine. It is based on the principle
Figure 3.11 Submarine with Periscope
of the law of reflection of light. It consists of a
long outer case and inside this case mirrors or
prisms are kept at each end, inclined at an angle 3.8 Refraction of Light
of 45°. Light coming from the distant body, falls
We know that when a light ray falls on
on the mirror at the top end of the periscope and
a polished surface placed in air, it is reflected
gets reflected vertically downward. This light is
into the air itself. When it falls on a transparent
reflected again by the second mirror kept at the
material, it is not reflected completely, but a part
bottom, so as to travel horizontally and reach the
of it is reflected, a part of it is absorbed and most
eye of the observer. In some complex periscopes,
of the light passes through it. Through air, light
optic fibre is used instead of mirrors for obtaining
travels with a speed of 3 × 108 m s-1, but it cannot
a higher resolution. The distance between the
travel with the same speed in water or glass,
mirrors varies depending on the purpose.
because, optically denser medium such as water
and glass offer some resistance to the light rays.
So, light rays travelling from a rarer
medium like air into a denser medium like
glass or water are deviated from their straight
line path. This bending of light about the
normal, at the point of incidence; as it passes
from one transparent medium to another is
called refraction of light.
When a light ray travels from the rarer
medium into the denser medium, it bends
Figure 3.10 Periscope towards the normal and when it travels from
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the denser medium into the rarer medium, it Refractive index is a ratio of two similar
bends away from the normal. You can observe quantities (speed) and so, it has no unit. Since, the
this phenomenon with the help of the activity speed of light in any medium is less than its speed
given below. in air, refractive index of any transparent medium
is always greater than 1. Refractive indices of
Activity 6 some common substances are given in Table 3.3.

Take a glass beaker, fill Table 3.3 Refractive Index of substances

it with water and place Substances Refractive index
a pencil in it. Now, look Air 1.0
at the pencil through
Water 1.33
the beaker. Does it
Ether 1.36
appear straight? No. It
Kerosene 1.41
will appear to be bent
Ordinary Glass 1.5
at the surface of the
water. Why? Quartz 1.56
Diamond 2.41
In this activity, the light rays actually travel In general, the refractive index of one
from the water (a denser medium) into the air medium with respect to another medium is
(a rarer medium). As you saw earlier, when a given by the ratio of their absolute refractive
light ray travels from a denser medium to a indices.
rarer medium, it is deviated from its straight Absolve refractive index of the
line path. So, the pencil appears to be bent second medium
1μ2 =
when you see it through the glass of water. Absolve refractive index of the
first medium
3.8.1 Refractive Index c
V2 V1
Refraction of light 1μ2 = c   or  1μ2 =
V2
in a medium depends on V1
the speed of light in that Thus, the refractive index of one medium
medium. When the speed of with respect to another medium is also given
light in a medium is more, by the ratio of the speed of light in the first
the bending is less and when medium to its speed in the second medium.
the speed of light is less, the
bending is more.
Problem 4
The amount of refraction of light in
Speed of light in air is 3 × 108 m s-1 and the
a medium is denoted by a term known as
speed of light in a medium is 2 ×108 ms-1.
refractive index of the medium, which is the
Find the refractive index of the medium
ratio of the speed of light in the air to the speed
with respect to air.
of light in that particular medium. It is also
known as the absolute refractive index and it Solution
is denoted by the Greek letter ‘µ’ (pronounced Refractive Speed of light in air (c)
=
as ‘mew’). index (μ) Speed of light in the medium (v)
3 × 108
Speed of light in air (c) μ= = 1.5
μ= 2 × 108
Speed of light in the medium (v)
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Problem 5 3.9 Dispersion

Refractive index of water is 4/3 and the
refractive index of glass is 3/2. Find the Activity 7
refractive index of glass with respect to the
refractive index of water. Place a prism on a table and keep a
white screen near it. Now, with the help of a
Solution torch, allow white light to pass through the
Refractive index of glass prism. What do you see? You can observe
w μg =
Refractive index of water that white light splits into seven colored
3 light rays namely, violet, indigo, blue,
2 green, yellow, orange and red (VIBGYOR)
= = 9 = 1.125
4 8 on the screen. Now, place another prism
3 in its inverted position, between the first
prism and the screen. Now, what do you
observe on the screen? You can observe
3.8.2 Snell’s Law of Refraction
that white light is coming out of the second
Refraction of light rays, as they travel prism.
from one medium to another medium, obeys
two laws, which are known as Snell’s laws of
refraction. They are given below:
i)  The incident ray, the refracted ray and the
normal at the point of intersection, all lie
in the same plane.
ii) 
The ratio of the sine of the angle of
incidence (i) to the sine of the angle of In this activity, you can see that the
refraction (r) is equal to the refractive first prism splits the white light into seven
index of the medium, which is a constant. coloured light rays and the second prism
recombines them into white light, again.
sin i Thus, it is clear that white light consists of
=µ
sin r seven colours. You can also recall Newton’s
disc experiment, which you studied in
In

Sin(1) n2 standard VII.

ci
de

 n
nt

Sin(2) 1 Splitting of white light into its seven

ra
y

constituent colours (wavelength), on passing

1
through a transparent medium is known as
Air (n1) dispersion of light.
Why does dispersion occur? It is
Refr

Liquid (n2)
because, light of different colours present
acat

in white light have different wavelength and

ed ra

they travel at different speeds in a medium.

2 You know that refraction of a light ray in
y

a medium depends on its speed. As each

coloured light has a different speed, the
Figure 3.12 Snell’s Law constituent coloured lights are refracted
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at different extents, inside the prism.

Points to Remember
Moreover, refraction of a light ray is inversely
proportional to its wavelength. ¾¾ Mirror is an optical device with a polished
Thus, the red coloured light, which has surface that reflects the light falling on it.
a large wavelength, is deviated less while ¾¾ Curved mirrors have surfaces that are
the violet coloured light, which has a short spherical, cylindrical, parabolic and ellipsoid.
wavelength, is deviated more. ¾¾ If the curved mirror is a part of a sphere, then
it is called a ‘spherical mirror’.
The formation of rainbow is an ¾¾ A spherical mirror, in which the reflection of
example of dispersion of white light occurs at its concave surface, is called a
concave mirror.
light. This can be seen on the
¾¾ A spherical mirror, in which the reflection of
opposite side of the Sun. After rainfall,
light occurs at its convex surface, is called a
large number of droplets still remain
convex mirror.
suspended in the air. When white light
¾¾ The focal length of a spherical mirror is half
passes through them, it is split into seven
of its radius of curvature.
colours. Dispersion of white light from a
¾¾ Real images can be formed on a screen, while
large number of droplets eventually forms
virtual images cannot be formed on a screen.
a rainbow.
¾¾ Concave mirrors form a real image and it can
be caught on a screen.
¾¾ Concave mirrors are used as make-up mirrors.
¾¾ Convex mirrors are used in vehicles as rear
view mirrors.
42°
¾¾ Based on the nature of the surface, reflection
can be classified into two types namely,
regular reflection and irregular reflection.
¾¾ The number of images formed by a mirror
depends on the angle of inclination of the
mirrors.

GLOSSARY

Center of Curvature The center of the sphere from which the mirror is made.
Dispersion of light Splitting of white light into its seven constituent colours (wavelength).
Focal length Distance between the pole and the principal focus.
Focus Point where the reflected rays converge at or appear to diverge from a point
on the principal axis.
Kaleidoscope Device which produces numerous and wonderful image patterns.
Periscope Instrument used for viewing objects, which are over and around
another body.
Pole Point on the mirror’s surface where the principal axis meets the mirror.
Principal Axis Line joining the pole of the mirror and its center of curvature.

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Radius of Curvature Distance between the center of the sphere and the vertex.
Reflection Bouncing back of the light rays as they fall on the smooth, shiny and
polished surface.
Refraction of light Bending of light about the normal, at the point of incidence; as it passes
from one transparent medium to another.
Refractive index Ratio of the speed of light in the air to the speed of light in that particular
medium.

TEXTBOOK EXERCISES

I. Choose the best answer. 7. If the focal length of a spherical mirror is

1. Which of the following has curved 10 cm, what is the value of its radius of
reflecting surface? curvature?
a) plane mirrors b) spherical mirrors a) 10 cm b) 5 cm c) 20 cm d) 15 cm
c) simple mirrors d) None of the above
II. Fill in the blanks.
2. The spherical mirror with a reflecting
1. The spherical mirror used in a beauty
surface curved inward is called
parlour as make-up mirror is ___________.
a) convex mirror b) concave mirror
2. Geometric centre of the spherical mirror
c) curved mirror d) None of the above
is ___________.
3. The spherical mirror used as a rear view 3. Nature of the images formed by a convex
mirror in the vehicle is mirror is ___________.
a) concave mirror b) convex mirror 4. The mirror used by the ophthalmologist
c) plane mirror d) None of the above to examine the eye is ___________.
4. The imaginary line passing through the 5. If the angle of incidence is 45°, then the
centre of curvature and pole of a spherical angle of reflection is ________.
mirror is called 6. If an object is placed between two mirrors
a) centre of curvature b) pole which are parallel to each other, the
c) principal axis d) radius curvature number of images formed is __________.
5. The distance from the pole to the focus is
called III. Match the following.
a) pole length b) focal length Convex mirror Radio telescopes
c) principal axis d) None of the above
Parobolic mirror Rear – view mirror
6. If the image and object distance is same, Snell’s law Kaleidoscope
then the object is placed at
Dispersion of light sin i/sin r =μ
a) infinity    b) at F
Refractive index Rainbow
c) between f and P    d) at C
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IV. Answer briefly. 3. Speed of light in air is 3 × 108 m s–1 and the
1. Define focal length. refractive index of a medium is 1.5. Find
2. Give any two applications of a concave the speed of light in the medium.
and convex mirror.
3. State the laws of reflection. REFERENCE BOOKS
4. Define the refractive index of a medium.
5. State Snell’s law of refraction 1. Frank New Certificate Physics (2017).
Frank Bros. & Co., Chennai.
V. Answer in detail. 2. Concise Physics (2017). Selena Publishers,
1. Explain the images formed by a concave New Delhi.
mirror. 3. Cambridge IGCSC Physics (2002).
2. What is reflection? Write a short note on Hodder education, London.
regular and irregular reflection. 4. Physics for Standard XI (2005). Tamil
3. Explain the working of a periscope. Nadu Textbook Corporation, Chennai.
4. What is dispersion? Explain in detail.

VI. Numerical problems. INTERNET RESOURCES

1. The radius of curvature of a spherical
1. [Link]
mirror is 25 cm. Find its focal length.
2. [Link]
2. If two plane mirrors are inclined to each
other at an angle of 45°, find the number 3. [Link]
of images formed. 4. [Link]

Concept Map

Light

↓
↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
Mirrors Terms Reflection Refraction

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓
• Spherical • Centre of • Regular • Refraction
mirror curvature Index
• Irregular
• Cylindrical • Pole - Snell’s Law
mirror • Radius of • Multiple
• Parabolic curvature Reflection • Dispersion
mirror • Principle Axis - Kaleidoscope - Formation
• Ellipsoid • Focus - Periscope of rainbow
mirror • Focal length

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UNIT

6 LIGHT

Learning Objectives

After completing this lesson, students will be able to:

„„ apply the laws of reflection for plane mirrors and spherical mirrors.
„„ draw ray diagrams to find the position and size of the image for spherical mirrors.
„„ distinguish between real and virtual images.
„„ apply the mirror equation to calculate position, size and nature of images for
spherical mirrors.
„„ identify the direction of bending when light passes from one medium to another.
„„ solve problems using Snell’s law.
„„ predict whether light will be refracted or undergo total internal reflection.

Introduction have studied about them in your lower classes.

Let us study about them little elaborately here.
Light is a form of energy which travels
as electromagnetic waves. The branch of 6.1.1 Laws of reflection
physics that deals with the properties and
Consider a plane mirror MM′ as shown in
applications of light is called optics. In our
Figure 6.1. Let AO be the light ray incident on the
day to day life we use number of optical
plane mirror at O. The ray AO is called incident
instruments. Microscopes are inevitable in
ray. The plane mirror reflects the incident ray
science laboratories. Telescopes, binoculars,
along OB. The ray OB is called reflected ray.
cameras and projectors are used in educational,
Draw a line ON at O perpendicular to MM′.
scientific and entertainment fields.
This line ON is called normal.
In this lesson, you will learn about spherical
mirrors (concave and convex). Also, you will B
learn about the properties of light, namely
reflection and refraction and their applications.

r
6.1 Reflection of Light

Light falling on any polished surface such

as a mirror, is reflected. This reflection of light on
polished surfaces follows certain laws and you Figure 6.1 Plane mirror

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The angle made by the incident ray with the arrow from the right hand goes to the right
the normal (i = angle AON) is called angle of side of the mirror. Here, you can see that there is
incidence. The reflected ray OB makes an angle no switching. It is an optical illusion. Thus, the
(r = angle NOB) with the normal and this is apparent lateral inversion we observe is not caused
called angle of reflection. From the figure you by the mirror but the result of our perception.
can observe that the angle of incidence is equal
to the angle of reflection. i.e., i = r. Also, the
incident ray, the reflected ray and the normal at
the point of incidence all lie in the same plane.
These are called the laws of reflection. Laws of
reflection are given as:
„„ The incident ray, the reflected ray and the
normal at the point of incidence, all lie in
the same plane.
„„ The angle of incidence is equal to angle of Figure 6.2 Lateral inversion
reflection.
6.2 Real and Virtual Image
The most common usage
of mirror writing can be found If the light rays coming from an object
on the front of ambulances, actually meet, after reflection, the image formed
where the word "AMBULANCE" is often will be a real iamage and it is always inverted.
written in very large mirrored text. A real image can be produced on a screen.
When the light rays coming from an
6.1.2 Lateral inversion object do not actually meet, but appear to meet
when produced backwards, that image will be
You might have heard about inversion. virtual image. The virtual image is always erect
But what is lateral inversion? The word and cannot be caught on a screen (Figure 6.3).
lateral comes from the Latin word latus which
means side. Lateral inversion means sidewise
inversion. It is the apparent inversion of left
and right that occurs in a plane mirror.
Why do plane mirrors reverse left and
right, but they do not reverse up and down?
Well, the answer is surprising. Mirrors do not
actually reverse left and right and they do
not reverse up and down also. What actually
mirrors do is reverse inside out.
Look at the image below (Figure 6.2) and
observe the arrows, which indicate the light ray
from the object falling on the mirror. The arrow
from the object’s head is directed towards the
top of the mirror and the arrow from the feet is
directed towards the bottom. The arrow from
left hand goes to the left side of the mirror and Figure 6.3 Real and virtual image
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We saw that the parallel rays of sun light

Activity 1
could be focused at a point using a concave
Stand before the mirror in your dressing mirror. Now let us place a lighted candle and
table or the mirror fixed in a steel almirah. Do a white screen in front of the concave mirror.
you see your whole body? To see your entire Adjust the position of the screen. Move the screen
body in a mirror, the mirror should be atleast front and back. Note the size of the image and its
half of your height. Height of the mirror= shape. You can see a small and inverted image.
Your height/2. Slowly bring the candle closer to the mirror.
6.3 Curved Mirrors What do you observe? As you bring the object
closer to the mirror the image becomes bigger.
We studied about laws
Try to locate the image when you bring the candle
of reflection. These laws are
very close to the mirror. Are you able to see an
applicable to all types of
image on the screen? Now look inside the mirror.
reflecting surfaces including
What do you see? An erect magnified image of the
curved surfaces. In your
candle is seen. In some positions of the object an
earlier classes, you have
image is obtained on the screen. However, at some
studied that there are many
positions of the object no image is obtained. It is
types of curved mirrors, such as spherical and
clear that the behaviour of the concave mirror is
parabolic mirrors. The most commonly used
much more complicated than the plane mirror.
type of curved mirror is spherical mirror.
However, with the use of geometrical
6.3.1 Spherical mirrors technique we can simplify and understand the
In curved mirrors, the reflecting surface can behaviour of the image formed by a concave
be considered to form a part of the surface of a mirror. In the case of plane mirror, we used only
sphere. Such mirrors whose reflecting surfaces two rays to understand how to get full image of
are spherical are called spherical mirrors. a person. But, for understanding the nature of
image formed by a spherical mirrors we need to
In some spherical mirrors the reflecting surface
look at four specific rules.
is curved inwards, that is, it faces towards the centre
of the sphere. They are called concave mirrors. In 6.3.3 Rules for the construction
some other mirrors, the reflecting surface is curved of image
outward. They are called convex mirror.
To find the position and nature of the
6.3.2  
Image formed by image formed by a spherical mirror, we need
spherical mirrors to know the following rules.
Rule 1: A ray passing through the centre of
Activity 2
curvature is reflected back along its own path
Hold a concave mirror in your hand (or (Figure 6.4).
place it in a stand). Direct its reflecting surface
towards the sun. Direct the light reflected by
the mirror onto a sheet of paper held not very
far from the mirror. Move the sheet of paper
back and forth gradually until you find a bright,
sharp spot of light on the paper. Position the
mirror and the paper at the same location for
few moments. What do you observe? Why Figure 6.4 Ray passing through centre of
does the paper catches fire? curvature
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Rule 2: A ray parallel to the principal axis a small linear object placed on the principal axis
passes through or appears to be coming of a concave mirror at different positions.
from the principal focus (in case of convex Case–I: When the object is far away (at
mirror) after reflection (Figure 6.5). infinity), the rays of light reaching the concave
mirror are parallel to each other (Figure 6.8a).
Position of the Image: The image is formed
at the principal focus F.
Nature of the Image: It is real, inverted and
highly diminished in size.
Figure 6.5 Ray parallel to prinicpal axis Case–II: When the object is beyond the
Rule 3: A ray passing through the focus gets centre of curvature (Figure 6.8b).
reflected and travels parallel to the principal Position of the image: Between the principal
axis (Figure 6.6). focus F and centre of curvature C.
Nature of the image: Real, inverted and
smaller than object.
Case – III: When the object is at the centre of
curvature (Figure 6.8c).
Position of the image: The image is at the
centre of curvature itself.
Figure 6.6 Ray travelling through the
principal focus Nature of the image: It is real, inverted and
same size as the object.
Rule 4: A ray incident at the pole of the mirror
gets reflected along a path such that the angle Case – IV: When the object is in between the
of incidence (APC) is equal to the angle of centre of curvature C and principal focus F
reflection (BPC) (Figure 6.7). (Figure 6.8d).
Position of the image: The image is beyond C
Nature of the image: It is real inverted and
magnified.
Case – V: When the object is at the principal
focus F (Figure 6.8e).
Nature of the image: No image can be captured
Figure 6.7 Angle of incidence equal to angle
on the screen nor any virtual image can be seen.
of reflection
Case – VI: When the object is in between the
6.4 Concave Mirror focus F and the pole P (Figure 6.8f).
Position of the image: The image is behind
6.4.1 Image Formation
the mirror.
We shall now find the position, size and
Nature of the image: It is virtual, erect and
nature of image by drawing the ray diagram for
magnified.

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(a) (b) (c)

(d) (e) (f)

Figure 6.8 Ray diagram for the images formed by concave mirror

6.4.2 Sign convention for „„ All distances measured perpendicular

measurement of to and above the principal axis are
distances considered to be positive.
„„ All distances measured perpendicular
We follow a set of sign conventions called
to and below the principal axis are
the cartesian sign convention to measure
considered to be negative.
distances in ray diagram. In this convention,
the pole (P) of the mirror is taken as the
origin. The principal axis is taken as the
X-axis of the coordinate system (Figure 6.9).
„„ The object is always placed on the left
side of the mirror.
„„ All distances are measured from the pole
of the mirror.
„„ Distances measured in the direction of
incident light are taken as positive and
those measured in the opposite direction Figure 6.9 Sign convention for spherical
are taken as negative. mirrors

Table 6.1 Sign convention for spherical mirrors.

Height of the image
Type of mirror v Height of
u f R
the object real virtual
real virtual
Concave mirror - - + - - + - +

Convex mirror - No real + + + + No real +

image image

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6.4.3 Mirror equation

The expression relating the distance of

the object (u), distance of the image (v) and
the focal length (f) of a spherical mirror is
called the mirror equation. It is given as:
=

Thus, image distance, v = –30 cm

(negative sign indicates that the image is
6.4.4 Linear magnification (m) on the left side of the mirror).
Magnification produced by a spherical ∴ Position of image is 30 cm in front
mirror gives how many times the image of an of the mirror. Since the image is in front of
object is magnified with respect to the object size. the mirror, it is real and inverted.
It can be defined as the ratio of the height To find the size of the image, we have
of the image (hi) to the height of the object (ho). to calculate the magnification.

m= = = –2

The magnification can be related to

We know that, m =
object distance (u) and the image distance (v).
Here, height of the object h1 = 1 cm

–2 =
h2 = –2 × 1 = –2 cm
The height of image is 2 cm (negative
Note: A negative sign in the value of
sign shows that the image is formed below
magnification indicates that the image is real.
the principal axis).
A positive sign in the value of magnification
indicates that the image is virtual.
Problem 2
Problem 1 An object 2 cm high is placed at a distance
Find the size, nature and position of the of 16 cm from a concave mirror which
image formed when an object of size 1 produces a real image 3 cm high. Find the
cm is placed at a distance of 15 cm from a position of the image.
concave mirror of focal length 10 cm. Solution:
Solution: Height of object h1 = 2 cm
Object distance, u = –15 cm (to the left of mirror) Height of real image h2 = –3 cm
Image distance, v = ?
Focal length, f = –10 cm (concave mirror) Magnification m= = = –1.5
Using mirror formula,
We know that, m=

Here, object distance u = –16 cm

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Substituting the value, we get

–1.5 = –

–1.5 =
v = 16 × (–1.5) = –24 cm
The position of image is 24 cm in front
of the mirror (negative sign indicates that Figure 6.10 Image formation in a convex
the image is on the left side of the mirror). mirror
The ray OA parallel to the principal axis is
6.4.5 Uses of concave mirror reflected along AD. The ray OB retraces its path.
The two reflected rays diverge but they appear to
Dentist’s head mirror: In dentist’s head mirror,
intersect at I when produced backwards. Thus
a parallel beam of light is made to fall on the
II′ is the image of the object OO′. It is virtual,
concave mirror. This mirror focuses the light
erect and smaller than the object.
beam on a small area of the body (such as teeth,
throat etc.).
Activity 3
Make-up mirror: When a concave mirror is
held near the face, an upright and magnified Take a convex mirror. Hold it in one hand.
image is seen. Here, our face will be seen Hold a pencil close to the mirror in the upright
magnified. position in the other hand. Observe the image
Other applications: Concave mirrors are of the pencil in the mirror. Is the image erect
also used as reflectors in torches, head lights or inverted? Is it diminished or enlarged?
in vehicles and search lights to get powerful Move the pencil slowly
beams of light. Large concave mirrors are away from the mirror. Does
used in solar heaters. the image become smaller
or larger? What do you
Stellar objects are at an infinite observe?
distance. Therefore, the image
formed by a concave mirror
would be diminished, and 6.5.2 Uses of convex mirrors
inverted. Yet, astronomical telescopes use Convex mirrors are used as rear-view
concave mirrors. mirrors in vehicles. It always forms a virtual,
erect, small-sized image of the object. As the
6.5 Convex Mirror vehicles approach the driver from behind, the
size of the image increases. When the vehicles
6.5.1 Image Formation are moving away from the driver, then image
size decreases. A convex mirror provides a
Any two rays can be chosen to draw the much wider field of view (it is the observable
position of the image in a convex mirror (Figure area as seen through eye / any optical device
6.10): a ray that is parallel to the principal axis such as mirror) compared to plane mirror.
(rule 1) and a ray that appears to pass through Convex mirrors are installed on public
the centre of curvature (rule 2). roads as traffic safety device. They are used in
Note: All rays behind the convex mirror shall acute bends of narrow roads such as hairpin
be shown with dotted lines. bends in mountain passes where direct view of

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oncoming vehicles is restricted. It is also used in In 1665, the Danish astronomer Ole
blind spots in shops. Roemer first estimated the speed of light by
observing one of the twelve moons of the
In the rear view mirror, the planet Jupiter. He estimated the speed of light
following sentence is written. to be about 220,000 km per second.
“Objects in the mirror are
closer than they appear”. Why? Some organisms can make
their own light too? This ability
Problem 3 is called bioluminescence.
A car is fitted with a convex mirror of focal Worms, fish, squid, starfish and some
length 20 cm. Another car is 6 m away other organisms that live in the dark sea
from the first car. Find the position of the habitat glow or flash light to scare off
second car as seen in the mirror of the predators.
first. What is the size of the image if the
In 1849, the first land based estimate was
second car is 2 m broad and 1.6 m high?
made by Armand Fizeau. Today the speed of
Solution: light in vacuum is known to be almost exactly
Focal length = 20 cm (convex mirror) 300,000 km per second.
Object distance = –6m = –600 cm
Image distance v = ? 6.7 Refraction of light

Activity 4

Refraction of light at air – water interface

Put a straight pencil
into a tank of water or
beaker of water at an
angle of 45° and look at it
= 19.35 cm from one side and above.
How does the pencil look
b) Size of the image now? The pencil appears
to be bent at the surface
m= =– = × = of water.

This acctivity explains the refraction of

Breadth of image = × 200 cm = 6.45 cm light. The bending of light rays when they
pass obliquely from one medium to another
Height of image = × 160 cm = 5.16 cm medium is called refraction of light. Light rays
get deviated from their original path while
entering from one transparent medium to
another medium of different optical density.
6.6 Speed of light
This deviation (change in direction) in the
In early seventeenth century, the Italian path of light is due to the change in velocity
scientist Galileo Galilee (1564‒1642) tried to of light in the different medium. The velocity
measure the speed of light. of light depends on the nature of the medium
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in which it travels. Velocity of light is more in

a rarer medium (low optical density) than in a = constant
denser medium (high optical density). This constant is called the refractive
index of the second medium with respect to
6.7.1 Refraction of light from the first medium. It is generally represented
a plane transparent by the Greek letter, 1µ2 (mew).
surface Note: The refractive index has no unit as it is
When a ray of light travels from the ratio of two similar quantities.
optically rarer medium to optically denser
The refractive index of a medium is also
medium, it bends towards the normal.
defined in terms of speed of light in different media.
(Figure 6.11a).
µ=
When a ray of light travels from an
optically denser medium to an optically rarer
medium it bends away from the normal. In general, 1µ2 =
(Figure 6.11b).
Problem 4
A ray of light incident normally on a
denser medium, goes without any deviation. The speed of light in air is 3 × 108 ms–1 and in
(Figure 6.11c). glass it is 2 × 108 ms–1. What is the refractive
index of glass?
6.7.2 The laws of refraction
Solution:
of light
µ =
a g
=
Laws of refraction, also known as Snell’s
law of refraction are given below as:
„„ The incident ray, the refracted ray and the Problem 5
normal to the interface of two transparent Light travels from a rarer medium to a
media at the point of incidence, all lie in denser medium. The angles of incidence
the same plane. and refraction are respectively 45° and 30°.
„„ The ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence Calculate the refractive index of the second
to the sine of the angle of refraction is a medium with respect to the first medium.
constant for a light of given colour and for the Solution:
given pair of media.
If i is the angle of incidence and r is the µ =
1 2
= = = = 1.414
angle of refraction, then

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 6.11 Refraction of light from a plane transparent surface

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 Total Internal summer, the air near the ground becomes

6.8 Reflection hotter than the air at higher levels. Hotter air
is less dense, and has smaller refractive index
When light travels from denser medium than the cooler air.
into a rarer medium, it gets refracted away from Thus, a ray of light bends away from
the normal. While the angle of incidence in the the normal and undergoes total internal
denser medium increases the angle of refraction reflection. Total internal reflection is the
also increases and it reaches a maximum value main cause for the spectacular brilliance of
of r = 90º for a particular value. This angle of diamonds and twinkling of stars.
incidence is called critical angle (Figure 6.12).
The angle of incidence at which the angle of
refraction is 90º is called the critical angle. At
this angle, the refracted ray grazes the surface of
separation between the two media.

Figure 6.13 Mirage

Optical fibres: Optical fibres are bundles of
high-quality composite glass/quartz fibres.
Each fibre consists of a core and cladding.
The refractive index of the material of the
Figure 6.12 Critical angle core is higher than that of the cladding.
Optical fibres work on the phenomenon of
When the angle of incidence exceeds
total internal reflection. When a signal in the
the value of critical angle, the refracted ray is
form of light is directed at one end of the fibre
not possible. Since r > 90º the ray is totally
at a suitable angle, it undergoes repeated total
reflected back to the same medium. This is
internal reflection along the length of the
called as total internal reflection.
fibre and finally comes out at the other end.
6.8.1 Conditions to achieve total Optical fibres are extensively used for
internal reflection transmitting audio and video signals through
long distances. Moreover, due to their flexible
In order to achieve total internal refelection
nature, optical fibers enable physicians to
the following conditions must be met.
look and work inside the body through tiny
„„ Light must travel from denser medium incisions without having to perform surgery.
to rarer medium. (Example: From water
to air).
„„ The angle of incidence inside the denser
medium must be greater than that of the
critical angle.
6.8.2 Total internal reflection in
nature
Mirage: On hot summer days, patch of water
may be on the road. This is an illusion. In Figure 6.14 Optical fibres

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An Indian-born physicist ™™ Magnification: m =

Narinder Kapany is regarded
™™ Laws of refraction: The incident ray,
as the Father of Fibre Optics.
the refracted ray and the normal to the
surface separating two medium lie in
Points to Remember
the same plane. The ratio of the sine of
™™ Light is a form of energy which produces the incident angle (∠i) to the sine of
the sensation of sight. the refracted angle (∠r) is constant i.e.
™™ Laws of reflection: i) Angle of incidence is = constant
equal to the angle of reflection ii) The incident ™™ The bending of light when it passes
ray, the normal to the point of incidence and obliquely from transparent medium to
the reflected ray, all lie in the same plane. another is called refraction.
™™ The distance between the pole and the
™™ When the angle of incidence exceeds the
principal focus of the spherical mirror is
value of critical angle the refracted ray
called focal length. ; where R is the is impossible. Since r > 90º refraction is
radius of curvature of the mirror. impossible and the ray is totally reflected
™™ Mirror equation: The relation between u, back to the same medium (denser
v and f of a spherical mirror is known as medium). This is called as total internal
mirror formula reflection.

GLOSSARY
Spherical Mirror A reflecting surface which is a part of a sphere whose inner or outer surface
is reflecting.
Concave Mirror Part of a hollow sphere whose outer part is silvered and/or inner part is the
reflecting surface.
Convex Mirror Part of a hollow sphere whose inner part is silvered and/or outer part is the
reflecting surface.
Centre of The centre of the hollow sphere of which the spherical mirror forms a part.
curvature
Radius of The radius of the hollow sphere of which the spherical mirror forms a part.
curvature
Pole The midpoint of the spherical mirror.
Aperture The diameter of the circular rim of the mirror.
Principal axis The normal to the centre of the mirror is called the principal axis.
Principal focus The point on the principal axis of the spherical mirror where the rays of light
parallel to the principal axis meet or appear to meet after reflection from the
spherical mirror.

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TEXTBOOK EXERCISES

I. Choose the correct answer.

1. A ray of light passes from one medium
to another medium. Refraction takes 2. The mirror used in search light is _____.
place when angle of incidence is 3. The angle of deviation of light ray in a
a) 0° b) 45° c) 90° prism depends on the angle of _______.
2. _____ is used as reflectors in torchlight. 4. The radius of curvature of a concave
a) Concave mirror b) Plane mirror mirror whose focal length is 5cm is
c) Convex mirror _______.
5. Large _________ mirrors are used to
3. We can create enlarged, virtual images
concentrate sunlight to produce heat in
with
solar furnaces.
a) concave mirror b) plane mirror
c) convex mirror IV. Match the following.
4. When the reflecting surface is curved
outwards the mirror formed will be Ratio of height of image Concave mirror
a) concave mirror b) convex mirror to height of object.
c) plane mirror Used in hairpin bends Total internal
5. When a beam of white light passes in mountains. reflection
through a prism it gets
Coin inside water Magnification
a) reflected b) only deviated appearing slightly raised.
c) deviated and dispersed
6. The speed of light is maximum in Mirage Convex mirror
a) vacuum  b) glass  c) diamond Used as Dentist’s mirror. Refraction
II. 
State whether true or false. If false,
V. Assertion and reason type questions.
­correct the statement.
1. The angle of deviation depends on the Mark the correct choice as:
refractive index of the glass. a) If both assertion and reason are true and
2. If a ray of light passes obliquely from reason is the correct explanation.
one medium to another, it does not b) If both assertion and reason are true and
suffer any deviation. reason is not the correct explanation.
3. The convex mirror always produces a
c) If assertion is true but reason is false.
virtual, diminished and erect image of
the object. d) If assertion is false but reason is true.
4. When an object is at the centre of 1. Assertion: For observing the traffic at a
curvature of concave mirror the image hairpin bend in mountain paths a plane
formed will be virtual and erect. mirror is preferred over convex mirror
and concave mirror.
5. The reason for brilliance of diamonds is
Reason: A convex mirror has a much
total internal reflection of light.
larger field of view than a plane mirror
III. Fill in the blanks. or a concave mirror.
1. In going from a rarer to denser medium, 2. Assertion: Incident ray is directed
the ray of light bends _____________. towards the centre of curvature of

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spherical mirror. After reflection it 4. What is meant by magnification? Write

retraces its path. its expression. What is its sign for real
Reason: Angle of incidence (i) = Angle of image and virtual image?
reflection (r) = 0o. 5. Write the spherical mirror formula and
VI. Answer very briefly. explain the meaning of each symbol
1. According to cartesion sign convention, used in it.
which mirror and which lens has VIII. Answer in detail.
negative focal length? 1. a) Draw ray diagrams to show how the
2. Name the mirror(s) that can give (i) an image is formed using a concave
erect and enlarged image, (ii) same mirror, when the position of object
sized, inverted image. is: i) at C ii) between C and F
3. If an object is placed at the focus of a iii) between F and P of the mirror.
concave mirror, where is the image
b) 
Mention the position and nature of
formed?
image in each case.
4. Why does a ray of light bend when it
travels from one medium to another? 2. Explain with diagrams how refraction
5. What is the speed of light in vacuum? of incident light takes place from
6. Concave mirrors are used by dentists to a) rarer to denser medium b) denser to
examine teeth. Why? rarer medium c) normal to the surface
separating the two media.
VII. Answer briefly.
IX. Numerical problems.
1. a) C omplete the diagram to show how
1. A concave mirror produces three times
a concave mirror forms the image of
magnified real image of an object placed
the object.
at 7 cm in front of it. Where is the image
b) What is the nature of the image? located? (Ans: 21 cm in front of the
mirror)
2. Light enters from air into a glass plate
having refractive index 1.5. What is the
speed of light in glass? (Ans: 2 × 108 ms–1)
3. The speed of light in water is 2.25 ×
108 ms–1. If the speed of light in vacuum is
3 × 108 ms–1, calculate the refractive
index of water. (Ans: 1.33)

X. Higher Order Thinking Skills.

2. Pick out the concave and convex mirrors
1. Light ray emerges from water into air.
from the following and tabulate them.
Draw a ray diagram indicating the
Rear-view mirror, Dentist’s mirror, Torch-
change in its path in water.
light mirror, Mirrors in shopping malls,
2. When a ray of light passes from air into
Make-up mirror.
glass, is the angle of refraction greater
3. State the direction of incident ray which than or less than the angle of incidence?
after reflection from a spherical mirror 3. What do you conclude about the speed
retraces its path. Give reason for your of light in diamond. if the refractive
answer. index of diamond is 2.41?

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REFERENCE INTERNET RESOURCES

1. Optics – Brijlal and Subramaniam [Link]
(1999) Sultan chand Publishers.
[Link]
2. Optics – Ajay Ghotak Dharyaganj
[Link]
Publishing circle, New Delhi.
au/light/geometrical-optics/
3. Physics for entertainment – Book 2
[Link]
Yakov Perelman, Mir Publishers.
page/snellslaw
Concept Map
Uses

Obtical fibres Applications

Image formation

Canvex mirror Toal internel

Common rules refIection
for image
formation
Spherical Laws of
Light RefIection
mirrors refIection

Sign
convention
Cancave mirror Lateral inversion Refraction

Image formation Law of refraction

Uses Snell’s law

Causes of refraction

ICT CORNER LIGHT - REFRACTION

Refraction is bending of light when travel from one medium to another

This activity enable the students to learn about the different mediums and its role in
refraction of light

Step 1. Type the following URL in the browser or scan the QR code from your mobile.
Youcan see“Bending light” on the screen. Click intro
Step 2. Now you can see light beam from the torch. Options are there
in the four corners. Select options of your choice and then
press the button in the torch. You can see the phenomeno of
refraction. The angles of refraction differ for different medium.
You can check it with the protractor
Step 3. Next select prism. Now explore with given tools and different
mediums and come out with different results

[Link]

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OPTICS
2

Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
‹‹state the laws of refraction.
‹‹list the properties of light.
‹‹explain the scattering of light and its various kinds.
‹‹understand the images formed by concave and convex lens.
‹‹analyze the ray diagram of concave and convex lens.
‹‹understand the working of human eye and optical instruments
‹‹solve numerical problems

chapter, we shall discuss about the scattering

INTRODUCTION
of light, images formed by convex and concave
Light is a form of energy which travels in lenses, human eye and optical instruments
the form of waves. The path of light is called such as telescopes and microscopes.
ray of light and group of these rays are called
as beam of light. Any object which gives out 2.1 PROPERTIES OF LIGHT
light are termed as source of light. Some of the
sources emit their own light and they are called Let us recall the properties of light and the
as luminous objects. All the stars, including important aspects on refraction of light.
the Sun, are examples for luminous objects.
1. Light is a form of energy.
We all know that we are able to see objects with
2. Light always travels along a straight line.
the help of our eyes. But, we cannot see any
object in a dark room. Can you explain why? 3. Light does not need any medium for its
If your answer is ‘we need light to see objects’, propagation. It can even travel through
the next question is ‘if you make the light from vacuum.
a torch to fall on your eyes, will you be able to 4. The speed of light in vacuum or air is,
see the objects?’ Definitely, ‘NO’. We can see c = 3 × 108 ms–1.
the objects only when the light is made to fall 5. Since, light is in the form of waves, it is
on the objects and the light reflected from the characterized by a wavelength (λ) and
objects is viewed by our eyes. You would have a frequency (ν), which are related by the
studied about the reflection and refraction of following equation: c = ν λ (c - velocity of
light elaborately in your previous classes. In this light).
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6. Different coloured light has different ‹‹When light travels from a rarer medium
wavelength and frequency. into a denser medium, the refracted ray
7. Among the visible light, violet light has the is bent towards the normal drawn to the
lowest wavelength and red light has the interface.
highest wavelength.
8. When light is incident on the interface
2.3 R EFRACTION OF A
between two media, it is partly reflected
COMPOSITE LIGHT-
and partly refracted.
DISPERSION OF LIGHT

2.2 REFRACTION OF LIGHT

We know that Sun is the fundamental
When a ray of light travels from one and natural source of light. If a source of light
transparent medium into another obliquely, produces a light of single colour, it is known as
the path of the light undergoes deviation. This a monochromatic source. On the other hand,
deviation of ray of light is called refraction. a composite source of light produces a white
Refraction takes place due to the difference light which contains light of different colours.
in the velocity of light in different media. The Sun light is a composite light which consists
velocity of light is more in a rarer medium and of light of various colours or wavelengths.
less in a denser medium. Refraction of light Another example for a composite source is a
obeys two laws of refraction. mercury vapour lamp. What do you observe
when a white light is refracted through a glass
2.2.1 First law of refraction: prism?
The incident ray, the refracted ray of light
and the normal to the refracting surface all lie When a beam of white light or composite
in the same plane. light is refracted through any transparent
media such as glass or water, it is split into
2.2.2 Second law of refraction: its component colours. This phenomenon is
The ratio of the sine of the angle of called as ‘dispersion of light’.
incidence and sine of the angle of refraction The band of colours is termed as spectrum.
is equal to the ratio of refractive indices of the This spectrum consists of following colours:
two media. This law is also known as Snell’s law. Violet, Indigo, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange,
sin i and Red. These colours are represented by
2 . . . . . . . . . . . . (2.1)
sin r the acronym “VIBGYOR”. Why do we get
‹‹Refractive index gives us an idea of how fast the spectrum when white light is refracted
or how slow light travels in a medium. The by a transparent medium? This is because,
ratio of speed of light in vacuum (c) to the different coloured lights are bent through
speed of light in a medium (v) is defined as different angles. That is the angle of refraction
refractive index ‘µ’ of that medium. is different for different colours.
c Angle of refraction is the smallest for
µ=
v red and the highest for violet. From Snell’s
‹‹The speed of light in a medium is low if the law, we know that the angle of refraction is
refractive index of the medium is high and determined in terms of the refractive index
vice versa. of the medium. Hence, the refractive index of
‹‹When light travels from a denser medium the medium is different for different coloured
into a rarer medium, the refracted ray is lights. This indicates that the refractive index
bent away from the normal drawn to the of a medium is dependent on the wavelength
interface. of the light.

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Rayleigh scattering
2.4 SCATTERING OF LIGHT
The scattering of sunlight by the atoms
When sunlight enters the Earth’s
or molecules of the gases in the earth’s
atmosphere, the atoms and molecules of
atmosphere is known as Rayleigh scattering.
different gases present in the atmosphere
refract the light in all possible directions.
This is called as ‘Scattering of light’. In this Rayleigh’s scattering law
phenomenon, the beam of light is redirected in Rayleigh’s scattering law states that, “The
all directions when it interacts with a particle
amount of scattering of light is inversely
of medium. The interacting particle of the
proportional to the fourth power of its
medium is called as ‘scatterer’.
wavelength”.
  1  
Amount of scattering ‘S’ ∝ 4
λ
According to this law, the shorter
wavelength colours are scattered much more
than the longer wavelength colours.
When sunlight passes through the
atmosphere, the blue colour (shorter
wavelength) is scattered to a greater extent
Figure 2.1 Scattering of light than the red colour (longer wavelength). This
scattering causes the sky to appear in blue
2.4.1 Types of scattering colour.
When a beam of light, interacts with At sunrise and sunset, the light rays from
a constituent particle of the medium, it the Sun have to travel a larger distance in the
undergoes many kinds of scattering. Based atmosphere than at noon. Hence, most of the
on initial and final energy of the light beam, blue lights are scattered away and only the
scattering can be classified as, red light which gets least scattered reaches
1) Elastic scattering 2) Inelastic scattering us. Therefore, the colour of the Sun is red at
sunrise and sunset.
1) Elastic scattering
If the energy of the incident beam of light Mie scattering
and the scattered beam of light are same, then Mie scattering takes place when the
it is called as ‘elastic scattering’. diameter of the scatterer is similar to or larger
than the wavelength of the incident light. It
2) Inelastic scattering
is also an elastic scattering. The amount of
If the energy of the incident beam of scattering is independent of wave length.
light and the scattered beam of light are not Mie scattering is caused by pollen, dust,
same, then it is called as ‘inelastic scattering’. smoke, water droplets, and other particles in
The nature and size of the scatterer results in the lower portion of the atmosphere.
different types of scattering. They are
Mie scattering is responsible for the
• Rayleigh scattering white appearance of the clouds. When white
• Mie scattering light falls on the water drop, all the colours
• Tyndall scattering are equally scattered which together form the
• Raman scattering white light.

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Tyndall Scattering Lens is basically classified into two types.

When a beam of sunlight, enters into a They are: (i) Convex Lens (ii) Concave Lens
dusty room through a window, then its path (i) Convex or bi-convex lens: It is a lens
becomes visible to us. This is because, the tiny bounded by two spherical surfaces such
dust particles present in the air of the room that it is thicker at the centre than at the
scatter the beam of light. This is an example of edges. A beam of light passing through it,
Tyndall Scattering is converged to a point. So, a convex lens is
The scattering of light rays by the
also called as converging lens.
colloidal particles in the colloidal solution is
called Tyndall Scattering or Tyndall Effect. (ii) Concave or bi-concave Lens: It is a lens
bounded by two spherical surfaces such
Do you Know that it is thinner at the centre than at the
edges. A parallel beam of light passing
Colloid is a microscopically small substance
that is equally dispersed throughout another through it, is diverged or spread out. So, a
material. Example: Milk, Ice cream, muddy concave lens is also called as diverging lens.
water, smoke
2.5.1 Other types of Lenses
Raman scattering
Plano-convex lens: If one of the faces of a
When a parallel beam of monochromatic bi-convex lens is plane, it is known as a plano-
(single coloured ) light passes through a gas or
convex lens.
liquid or transparent solid, a part of light rays
are scattered. Plano-concave lens: If one of the faces
The scattered light contains some additional of a bi-concave lens is plane, it is known as a
frequencies (or wavelengths) other than that plano-concave lens.
of incident frequency (or wavelength). This is All these lenses are shown in Figure 2.2
known as Raman scattering or Raman Effect. given below:
Raman Scattering is defined as “The
interaction of light ray with the particles of pure
liquids or transparent solids, which leads to a
change in wavelength or frequency.”
The spectral lines having frequency
equal to the incident ray frequency is called
‘Rayleigh line’ and the spectral lines which are
having frequencies other than the incident ray
frequency are called ‘Raman lines’. The lines
having frequencies lower than the incident
frequency is called stokes lines and the lines
having frequencies higher than the incident
frequency are called Antistokes lines.
You will study more about Raman Effect
in higher classes.

2.5 LENSES

A lens is an optically transparent medium

bounded by two spherical refracting surfaces
or one plane and one spherical surface. Figure 2.2 Types of lenses

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2.6 I
 MAGES FORMED DUE TO 2.7  R EFRACTION THROUGH A
REFRACTION THROUGH CONVEX LENS
A CONVEX AND CONCAVE Let us discuss the
LENS formation of images by
When an object is placed in front of a a convex lens when the
lens, the light rays from the object fall on the object is placed at various
lens. The position, size and nature of the image positions.
formed can be understood only if we know Object at infinity
certain basic rules.
When an object is placed at infinity, a real
Rule-1: When a ray of light strikes the
image is formed at the principal focus. The size
convex or concave lens obliquely at its optical
of the image is much smaller than that of the
centre, it continues to follow its path without
object (Figure 2.6).
any deviation (Figure 2.3).
M

O
2F1 F1 F2 2F2

Figure 2.3 Rays passing through the

optical centre N

Rule-2: When rays parallel to the principal axis Figure 2.6 Object at infinity
strikes a convex or concave lens, the refracted
Object placed beyond C (>2F)
rays are converged to (convex lens) or appear
to diverge from (concave lens) the principal When an object is placed behind the
focus (Figure 2.4). center of curvature(beyond C), a real and
inverted image is formed between the center of
curvature and the principal focus. The size of
the image is the smaller than that of the object
(Figure 2.7).
M
A
Figure 2.4 Rays passing parallel to the optic
axis B´
B 2F F1 O F2 2F2
Rule-3: When a ray passing through (convex 1

A´
lens) or directed towards (concave lens) the
N
principal focus strikes a convex or concave f
lens, the refracted ray will be parallel to the
principal axis (Figure 2.5). Figure 2.7 Object placed beyond C (>2F)

Object placed at C
When an object is placed at the center of
curvature, a real and inverted image is formed
at the other center of curvature. The size of
Figure 2.5 Rays passing through or directed the image is the same as that of the object
towards the principal focus (Figure 2.8).
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M  bject placed between the

O
A principal focus F and optical
centre O
B 2F2 When an object is placed in between
2F1 F1 O F2 B´ principal focus and optical centre, a virtual
image is formed. The size of the image is larger
A´ than that of the object (Figure 2.11).
N
Figure.2.8 Object placed at C A

Q
A

Object placed between F and C

B F1 B
When an object is placed in between 2F1
O F2 2F2
f
the center of curvature and principal focus, a
real and inverted image is formed behind the
center of curvature. The size of the image is Figure 2.11 Object placed between the
bigger than that of the object (Figure 2.9). principal focus F and optical centre O

M 2.8 A
 PPLICATIONS OF
A
CONVEX LENSES
F2 2F2 B´
1. Convex lenses are used as camera lenses
2F1 B F1 O
2. They are used as magnifying lenses
3. They are used in making microscope,
N telescope and slide projectors
A´ 4. They are used to correct the defect of vision
called hypermetropia
Figure 2.9 Object placed between F and C
2.9  R EFRACTION THROUGH A
 bject placed at the principal
O CONCAVE LENS
focus F
Let us discuss the formation of images by
When an object is placed at the focus, a concave lens when the object is placed at two
a real image is formed at infinity. The size
possible positions.
of the image is much larger than that of the
object (Figure 2.10). Object at Infinity

M When an object is placed at infinity, a

A virtual image is formed at the focus. The size of
the image is much smaller than that of the object
B O F2 2F2 (Figure 2.12).
2F1 F1

N 2F1 F1 O

Figure 2.10 Object placed at the principal

focus F Figure 2.12 Concave lens-Object at infinity

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Object anywhere on the principal

2.11 LENS FORMULA
axis at a finite distance
When an object is placed at a finite distance Like spherical mirrors, we have lens
from the lens, a virtual image is formed between formula for spherical lenses. The lens
optical center and focus of the concave lens. formula gives the relationship among
The size of the image is smaller than that of the distance of the object (u), distance of the
object (Figure 2.13). image (v) and the focal length (f ) of the
lens. It is expressed as
M 1 1 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A = − 2.2
f v u
A1
It is applicable to both convex and
2F1 B F1 B1 O
concave lenses. We need to give an at most
care while solving numerical problems
N related to lenses in taking proper signs of
different quantities.
Figure 2.13 Concave lens-Object at a finite
distance 2.12 SIGN CONVENTION
But, as the distance between the object Cartesian sign conventions are used for
and the lens is decreased, the distance measuring the various distances in the ray
between the image and the lens also keeps diagrams of spherical lenses. According to
decreasing. Further, the size of the image cartesian sign convention,
formed increases as the distance between the 1. The object is always placed on the left side
object and the lens is decreased. This is shown of the lens.
in (figure 2.14). 2. All the distances are measured from the
optical centre of the lens.
3. The distances measured in the same
1 2 3 4 5
5
direction as that of incident light are taken
34
12
as positive.
2F1 F1 F2 2F2
4. The distances measured against the direction
of incident light are taken as negative.
5. The distances measured upward and
Figure 2.14 Concave lens-Variation in perpendicular to the principal axis is taken
position and size of image with object distance as positive.
6. The distances measured downward and
perpendicular to the principal axis is taken
2.10  APPLICATIONS OF as negative.
CONCAVE LENSES

1. Concave lenses are used as eye lens of 2.13  

M AGNIFICATION OF A
‘Galilean Telescope’ LENS

2. They are used in wide angle spy hole in Like spherical mirrors, we have
doors. magnification for spherical lenses. Spherical
3. They are used to correct the defect of vision lenses produce magnification and it is defined
called ‘myopia’ as the ratio of the height of the image to the

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height of an object. Magnification is denoted where µ is the refractive index of the

by the letter ‘m’. If height of the object is h and material of the lens; R1 and R2 are the radii of
height of the image is h´, the magnification curvature of the two faces of the lens; f is the
produced by lens is, focal length of the lens.
height of the image h'
m= = …… (2.3)
height of the object h 2.15 POWER OF A LENS
Also it is related to the distance of the object When a ray of light falls on a lens, the
(u) and the distance of the image (v) as follows: ability to converge or diverge these light rays
depends on the focal length of the lens. This
Distance of the image v
m= = …… (2.4) ability of a lens to converge (convex lens) or
Distance of the object u
diverge (concave lens) is called as its power.
If the magnification is greater than 1, then Hence, the power of a lens can be defined as the
we get an enlarged image. On the other hand, degree of convergence or divergence of light
if the magnification is less than 1, then we get a rays. Power of a lens is numerically defined as
diminished image. the reciprocal of its focal length.
1
P = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2.6)
f
2.14  
L ENS MAKER’S
The SI unit of power of a lens is dioptre. It
FORMULA
is represented by the symbol D. If focal length
All lenses are made up of transparent is expressed in ‘m’, then the power of lens is
materials. Any optically transparent material expressed in ‘D’. Thus 1D is the power of a lens,
will have a refractive index. The lens formula whose focal length is 1metre. 1D = 1m-1.
relates the focal length of a lens with the distance
By convention, the power of a convex lens
of object and image. For a maker of any lens,
is taken as positive whereas the power of a
knowledge of radii of curvature of the lens is
required. This clearly indicates the need for an concave lens is taken, as negative.
equation relating the radii of curvature of the
lens, the refractive index of the given material of More to Know
the lens and the required focal length of the lens.
The lens maker’s formula is one such equation. The lens formula and lens maker’s formula
It is given as are applicable to only thin lenses. In the case
of thick lenses, these formulae with little
1 1 1 . . . . . . . . . modifications are used.
= (µ − 1) − (2.5)
f R1 R2

Table 2.1 Differences between a Convex Lens and a Concave Lens

S. No Convex Lens Concave Lens

1 A convex lens is thicker in the middle than A concave lens is thinner in the middle than
at edges. at edges.
2 It is a converging lens. It is a diverging lens.
3 It produces mostly real images. It produces virtual images.
4 It is used to treat hypermeteropia. It is used to treat myopia.

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Working of the eye

2.16 HUMAN EYE
The transparent layer cornea bends the
The human eyes are most valuable and
light rays through pupil located at the centre
sensitive organs responsible for vision. They are
part of the Iris. The adjusted light passes
the gateway to the wonderful world.
through the eye lens. Eye lens is convex in
Structure of the eye nature. So, the light rays from the objects
are converged and a real and inverted image
The eye ball is approximately spherical
in shape with a diameter of about 2.3 cm. It is formed on retina. Then, retina passes the
consists of a tough membrane called sclera, received real and inverted image to the brain
which protects the internal parts of the eye. through optical nerves. Finally, the brain
senses it as erect image.
Important parts of human eye are
Cornea: This is the thin and transparent layer Power of Accommodation
on the front surface of the eyeball as shown in The ability of the eye lens to focus nearby
figure 2.15. It is the main refracting surface.
as well as the distant objects is called power of
When light enters through the cornea, it
accommodation of the eye. This is achieved by
refracts or bends the light on to the lens.
changing the focal length of the eye lens with
Iris: It is the coloured part of the eye. It may be the help of ciliary muscles.
blue, brown or green in colour. Every person
Eye lens is made of a flexible, jelly-like
has a unique colour, pattern and texture. Iris
material. By relaxing and contracting the ciliary
controls amount of light entering into the
muscle, the curvature and hence the focal
pupil like camera aperture.
length of the eye lens can be altered. When we
Pupil: It is the centre part of the Iris. It is the
see distant objects, the ciliary muscle relaxes
pathway for the light to retina.
and makes the eye lens thinner. This increases
Retina: This is the back surface of the eye. It is the focal length of the eye lens. Hence, the
the most sensitive part of human eye, on which distant object can be clearly seen. On the other
real and inverted image of objects is formed. hand, when we look at a closer object, the
Eye Lens – It is the important part of human focal length of the eye lens is decreased by the
eye. It is convex in nature. contraction of ciliary muscle. Thus, the image
Ciliary muscles – Eye lens is fixed between of the closer object is clearly formed on the
the ciliary muscles. It helps to change the focal retina.
length of the eye lens according to the position
Persistence of vision
of the object.
If the time interval between two
consecutive light pulses is less than 1 second,
Ciliary body Sclera
16
Retina human eye cannot distinguish them separately.
Lens
It is called persistence of vision.
Cornea
Optic disc
The far point and near point of
Iris
the human eye
Pupil The minimum distance required to see the
objects distinctly without strain is called least
Optic nerve distance of distinct vision. It is called as near
Figure 2.15 Human eye point of eye. It is 25 cm for normal human eye.
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The maximum distance up to which the to a distance y, then, the focal length of the
eye can see objects clearly is called as far point required concave lens is,
of the eye. It is infinity for normal eye. xy . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
f= (2.7)
x−y

2.17 DEFECTS IN EYE Hypermeteropia

A normal human eye can clearly see all Hypermeteropia, also known as long
the objects placed between 25cm and infinity. sightedness, occurs due to the shortening of
But, for some people, the eye loses its power eye ball. With this defect, distant objects can
of accommodation. This could happen due to be seen clearly but nearby objects cannot be
many reasons including ageing. Hence, their seen clearly. The focal length of eye lens is
vision becomes defective. Let us discuss some increased or the distance between eye lens
and retina decreases. Hence, the near point
of the common defects of human eye.
will not be at 25cm for such eyes and the
near point has moved farther. Due to this, the
Myopia image of nearby objects are formed behind
Myopia, also known as short sightedness, the retina (Figure 2.17-a). This defect can be
occurs due to the lengthening of eye ball. With corrected using a convex lens (Figure 2.17-b).
The focal length of the convex lens to be used
this defect, nearby objects can be seen clearly
but distant objects cannot be seen clearly. The is computed as follows:
focal length of eye lens is reduced or the distance
between eye lens and retina increases. Hence,
the far point will not be infinity for such eyes
and the far point has come closer. Due to this,
the image of distant objects are formed before
the retina (Figure 2.16-a). This defect can be
corrected using a concave lens (Figure 2.16-b).
The focal length of the concave lens to be used Figure 2.17 (a) Vision with hypermeteropia
is computed as follows: (b) Corrected vision using a convex lens

Let a person with hypermeteropia eye can

see object beyond a distance d. Suppose that he
wants to see all objects closer than this distance
up to a distance D. Then, the focal length of the
required convex lens is
(a) Myopia (b) Myopia corrected eye
   dD   ���������������������������
f= (2.8)
Figure 2.16 (a) Vision with myopia d−D
b) Corrected vision using a concave lens
Presbyopia
Let a person with myopia eye can see up Due to ageing, ciliary muscles become
to a distance x. Suppose that he wants to see weak and the eye-lens become rigid (inflexible)
all objects farther than this distance, i.e., up to andso the eye loses its power of accommodation.
infinity. Then the focal length of the required Because of this, an aged person cannot see
concave lens is f = –x. If the person can see the nearby objects clearly. So, it is also called as
up to a distance x and if he wishes to see up ‘old age hypermetropia’.
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Some persons may have both the defects the lens. As per this position the convex lens
of vision - myopia as well as hypermetropia. produces an erect, virtual and enlarged image
This can be corrected by ‘bifocal lenses’. In (A'B'). The image formed is in the same side of
which, upper part consists of concave lens (to the object and the distance equal to the least
correct myopia) used for distant vision and the distance of distinct vision (D) (For normal
lower part consists of convex lens (to correct human eye D = 25 cm).
hypermetropia) used for reading purposes.
Uses of Simple microscope
Astigmatism
Simple microscopes are used
In this defect, eye cannot see parallel and a) by watch repairers and jewellers.
horizontal lines clearly. It may be inherited or
b) to read small letters clearly.
acquired. It is due to the imperfect structure of
eye lens because of the development of cataract c) to observe parts of flower, insects etc.
on the lens, ulceration of cornea, injury to the d) to observe finger prints in the field of
refracting surfaces, etc. Astigmatism can be forensic science.
corrected by using cylindrical lenses.
Compound microscope
Compound microscope is also used to
2.18 MICROSCOPE
see the tiny objects. It has better magnification
This is an optical instrument, which helps power than simple microscope.
us to see tiny (very small) objects. It is classified Magnification power of microscopes
as can be increased by decreasing the focal
1. Simple microscope length of the lens used. Due to constructional
2. Compound microscope limitations, the focal length of the lens cannot
be decreased beyond certain limit. This
Simple Microscope problem can be solved by using two separate
biconvex lenses.
Simple microscope has a convex lens of
short focal length. It is held near the eye to get Construction
enlarged image of small objects.
A compound microscope consists of two
Let an object (AB) is placed at a point
convex lenses. The lens with the shorter focal
within the principal focus (u < f) of the convex
length is placed near the object, and is called
lens and the observer’s eye is placed just behind
as ‘objective lens’ or ‘objective piece’. The lens
with larger focal length and larger aperture
B placed near the observer’s eye is called as ‘eye
B
lens’ or ‘eye piece’. Both the lenses are fixed in
a narrow tube with adjustable provision.
A F A
O
Working
The object (AB) is placed at a distance
Figure 2.18 Image formation in simple slightly greater than the focal length of
microscope objective lens (u > fo). A real, inverted and
magnified image (A'B') is formed at the other
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1611 which was fundamentally similar to the

astronomical telescope.

Types of Telescope
According to optical property, it is
classified into two groups:
i) refracting telescope ii) reflecting telescope
In refracting telescope lenses are used.
Galilean telescope, Keplerian telescope,
Figure 2.19 Image formation in compound Achromatic refractors, are some refracting
microscope telescopes.
side of the objective lens. This image behaves In reflecting telescope parabolic mirrors
as the object for the eye lens. The position of are used Gregorian, Newtonian, Cassegrain
the eye lens is adjusted in such a way, that the telescope are some Reflecting telescopes
image (A'B') falls within the principal focus of According to the things which are
the eye piece. This eye piece forms a virtual, observed, Astronomical Telescope and
enlarged and erect image (A" B") on the same Terrestrial Telescopes are the two major types
side of the object of telescope.
Compound microscope has 50 to 200 Astronomical Telescope
times more magnification power than simple
An astronomical telescope is used to view
microscope
heavenly bodies like stars, planets galaxies and
Travelling Microscope satellites.
A travelling microscope is one of the best
Terrestrial Telescopes
instrument for measuring very small length
with high degree of accuracy at the order of The image in an astronomical telescope
0.01mm. It works based on the principle of is inverted. So, it is not suitable for viewing
objects on the surface of the Earth. Therefore,
vernier. Its least count is 0.01 mm.
a terrestrial telescope is used. It provides an
erect image. The major difference between
2.19 TELESCOPE astronomical and terrestrial telescope is
erecting the final image with respect to the
Have you seen the recent lunar eclipse?
object.
With our naked eye we can’t visualize the
phenomena distinctly. Then, how can we see
Advantages of Telescopes
the distant object in clearer manner? It is
possible with telescope. • Elaborate view of the Galaxies, Planets, stars
Telescope is an optical instrument to see and other heavenly bodies is possible.
the distant objects. The first telescope was • Camera can be attached for taking
invented by Johann Lippershey in 1608. Galileo photograph for the celestial objects.
made a telescope to observe distant stars. He • Telescope can be viewed even with the low
got the idea, from a spectacle maker who one intensity of light.
day observed that the distant weather cock
appeared magnified through his lens system Disadvantages
fitted in his shop. Galileo observed the satellites
• Frequent maintenances needed.
of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn through
his telescope. Kepler invented Telescope in • It is not easily portable one.

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Points to Remember Problem-2

A beam of light passing through a diverging
™™Light is a form of energy which travels lens of focal length 0.3m appear to be focused
along a straight line at a distance 0.2m behind the lens. Find the
™™The deviation in the path of light ray is position of the object.
called refraction. Solution:
™™The ratio of speed of light in vacuum to
f = −0.3 m, v = −0.2 m
the speed of light in a medium is defined
as refractive index ‘µ’ of that medium. 1 1 1
= −
™™Lens formula f v u
1 1 1
1 1 1 = −
= – u v f
f ν u
1 1 1 −10
h' ν = − =
™™Magnification (m) = = u −0.2 −0.3 6
h u
−6
1 u= = −0.6 m
™™Power of lens. P = 10
f
™™The ability of the eye lens to focus nearby Problem-3
as well as the distant objects is called A person with myopia can see objects placed at
power of accommodation of the eye. a distance of 4m. If he wants to see objects at a
™™A microscope is an optical instrument distance of 20m, what should be the focal length
which helps us to see the objects which are and power of the concave lens he must wear?
very small in dimension.
Solution:
™™Telescope is an optical instrument used to
Given that x = 4m and y = 20m.
see the distant objects clearly.
Focal length of the correction lens is
   xy  
SOLVED PROBLEMS f= (Refer eqn.2.7)
x−y
Problem 1 4 × 20 80
f= = = −5 m
Light rays travel from vacuum into a 4 − 20 −16
glass whose refractive index is 1.5. If the angle Power of the correction lens
of incidence is 30°, calculate the angle of 1 1
= = − = −0.2 D
refraction inside the glass. f 5
Problem-4
Solution:
For a person with hypermeteropia, the
accorting to Snell’s law,
near point has moved to 1.5m. Calculate the
sin i 2 focal length of the correction lens in order to
sin r make his eyes normal.
µ1 sin i = µ2 sin r
Solution:
Here µ1 = 1.0, µ2 = 1.5, i = 30°
Given that, d = 1.5m; D = 25cm = 0.25m (For
(1.0) sin 30° = 1.5 sin r a normal eye).
1×— 1 = 1.5 sin r
2 From equation (2.8), the focal length of the
sin r = — 1 = 1 = (0.333)
2×1.5 — 3 correction lens is
r = sin (0.333)
–1
d × D 1.5 × 0.25 0.375
f= = = = 0.3 m
r = 19.45° d − D 1.5 − 0.25 1.25
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TEXTBOOK EVALUATION

I. Choose the correct answer 9. Which of the following lens would you prefer
to use while reading small letters found in a
1. The refractive index of four substances A, B,
dictionary?
C and D are 1.31, 1.43, 1.33, 2.4 respectively.
The speed of light is maximum in a) A convex lens of focal length 5 cm
b) A concave lens of focal length 5 cm
a) A  b) B  c) C  d) D
c) A convex lens of focal length 10 cm
2. Where should an object be placed so that
d) A concave lens of focal length 10 cm
a real and inverted image of same size is
obtained by a convex lens 10. If VB, VG, VR be the velocity of blue, green
and red light respectively in a glass prism,
a) f b) 2f
then which of the following statement gives
c) infinity d) between f and 2f
the correct relation?
3. A small bulb is placed at the principal focus
a) VB = VG = VR b) VB > VG >VR
of a convex lens. When the bulb is switched
c) VB < VG < VR d) VB < VG > VR
on, the lens will produce
a) a convergent beam of light II. Fill in the blanks:
b) a divergent beam of light
1. The path of the light is called as
c) a parallel beam of light
d) a coloured beam of light 2. 
The refractive index of a transparent
medium is always greater than
4. Magnification of a convex lens is
a) Positive     b) negative 3. If the energy of incident beam and the
c) either positive or negative   d) zero scattered beam are same, then the scattering
of light is called as scattering.
5. A convex lens forms a real, diminished point
sized image at focus. Then the position of the 4. According to Rayleigh’s scattering law, the
object is at amount of scattering of light is inversely
proportional to the fourth power of its
a) focus b) infinity
c) at 2f       d) between f and 2f
5. Amount of light entering into the eye is
6. Power of a lens is –4D, then its focal length is
controlled by
a) 4m b) –40m
c) –0.25 m d) –2.5 m
III. True or False. If false correct it.
7. In a myopic eye, the image of the object is 1. V
 elocity of light is greater in denser medium
formed than in rarer medium
a) behind the retina   b) on the retina 2. Th
 e power of lens depends on the focal
c) in front of the retina   d) on the blind spot length of the lens
8. The eye defect ‘presbyopia’ can be corrected 3. Increase in the converging power of eye
by lens cause ‘hypermetropia’
a) convex lens b) concave lens 4. The convex lens always gives small virtual
c) convex mirror d) Bi focal lenses image.
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IV. Match the following: 9. Why does the sky appear in blue colour?
Column - I Column - II 10. Why are traffic signals red in colour?
1 Retina a Path way of light VII. Give the answer in detail
2 Pupil b Far point comes 1. List any five properties of light
closer
2. Explain the rules for obtaining images
3 Ciliary muscles c near point moves
away formed by a convex lens with the help of ray
diagram.
4 Myopia d Screen of the eye
5 Hypermetropia f Power of accom- 3. Differentiate the eye defects: Myopia and
modation Hypermetropia
4. Explain the construction and working of a
V. Assertion and reasoning type ‘Compound Microscope’.
Mark the correct choice as
a) If both assertion and reason are true and VIII. Numerical Problems:
reason is the correct explanation of assertion. 1. An object is placed at a distance 20cm from
b) If both assertion and reason are true but a convex lens of focal length 10cm. Find the
reason is not the correct explanation of image distance and nature of the image.
assertion. 2. An object of height 3cm is placed at 10cm
c) Assertion is true but reason is false. from a concave lens of focal length 15cm.
d) Assertion is false but reason is true. Find the size of the image.
1. Assertion: If the refractive index of the IX. Higher order thinking (HOT) questions:
medium is high (denser medium) the velocity
of the light in that medium will be small 1. While doing an experiment for the
determination of focal length of a convex
Reason: Refractive index of the medium is
lens, Raja Suddenly dropped the lens. It got
inversely proportional to the velocity of the
broken into two halves along the axis. If he
light
continues his experiment with the same lens,
2. Assertion: Myopia is due to the increase in (a) can he get the image? (b) Is there any
the converging power of eye lens. change in the focal length?
Reason: Myopia can be corrected with the 2. The eyes of the nocturnal birds like owl are
help of concave lens. having a large cornea and a large pupil. How
VI. Answer Briefly does it help them?

1. What is refractive index?

REFERENCE BOOKS
2. State Snell’s law.
3. Draw a ray diagram to show the image 1. Fundamentals of optics by D.R. Khanna and
formed by a convex lens when the object is H.R. Gulati, R. Chand & Co.
placed between F and 2F. 2. Principles of Physics – Halliday, Resnick &
4. Define dispersion of light Walker, Wiley Publications, New Delhi.
5. State Rayleigh’s law of scattering
6. Differentiate convex lens and concave lens. I NT ER NET R ES O U RCES
7. What is power of accommodation of eye?
1. [Link]
8. What are the causes of ‘Myopia’? 2. [Link]
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Concept Map
Light

Refraction Dispersion Scattering of light Optical Instruments

Law of
refraction
Human eye Microscope Telescope

Structure Defects

Simple Compound
Rayleigh Mie Tyndall Raman
Scattering Scattering Scattering Scattering
Terrestrial Astronomical

Myopia Hypermeteropia Presbyopia

ICT CORNER Formation of different

types of images by a
convex lens
In this activity you will be able to understand the images formed by convex lenses.

Steps
• Open the browser and type ‘[Link]/en/simulation/legacy/geometric-optics’ in the address
bar.
• Take the pencil and raise it so that the eraser is sitting on the principal axis. Click on the “principal
rays” button.
• Place the object at different positions (infinity, beyond 2F, at 2F, between F and 2F, at F, between F and
optic centre) from a convex lens and observe different types of images. Explain the result.
• Will the rays ever form an image? Click on “virtual image” to check your answer.

Step1 Step2 Step3 Step4

Cells alive
URL: [Link]

*Pictures are indicative only

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