OPTICS

Optics is the study of how light behaves.

Explaining how magnification occurs is part of the science of optics.

Diagrams of light use one or more imaginary lines called light rays to show how light travels.

A ray diagram is an accurately – drawn sketch showing how light rays interact with mirrors, lenses and other
optical devices.

The curved surface of a magnifying glass bends light so that it appears to come from a much larger thumb.

Reflection and Refraction

A lens is an optical device that is used to bend light in a specific way.

A coverging lens bends light so that the light rays come together to a point.

A diverging lens bends light so it spreads light apart instead of coming together.
 Mirrors reflect light and allow us to see ourselves.

A prism is another optical device that can cause light to change directions.

A prism is a solid piece of glass with flat polished surfaces.

Light Rays

Reflection occurs when light bounces off a surface and when light bends while crossing through
materials.

Reflection

Images appear in mirrors because of how light is reflected by

mirrors.

The incident ray follows the light falling onto the mirror.

The reflected ray follows the light bouncing off the mirror.

In specular reflection each incident ray bounces off in a single

direction.

A surface that is not shiny creates diffuse reflection.

 In diffuse reflection, a single ray of light scatters into many directions.

The Law of Reflection

The law of reflection states that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection.

Light rays reflect from a mirror at the same angle at which they arrive.

Refraction

A straw in a glass of water makes a good example of refraction.

The illusion is caused by refracted light rays when they cross from
water back into air before reaching your eyes.

Materials with a higher index of refraction bend light by a large angle.

Refraction occurs when light rays cross a surface between two

materials that have a different index of refraction.
What direction does bend light?

A light ray going from a low index of refraction into a higher index bends toward the normal line.

A light ray going from a high index of refraction to a low index bends away from the normal line.

Vegetable oil and glass have almost the same index of refraction.

If you put a glass rod into a glass cup containing vegetable oil, the rod disappears
because light is NOT refracted!
Total Internal Reflection

The angle of incidence at which light begins reflecting back into a refractive material is called the critical angle.

Total internal reflection happens when the angle of refraction becomes greater than the critical angle.

Fiber Optics

A solid glass rod can become a pipe that carries light.

This happens if light enters the rod at an angle of incidence

greater than the critical angle.

Inside the rod, light reflects off of the inside walls and bounces
back into the rod because of total internal reflection.

Dispersion and Prisms

The variation in refractive index with color is called dispersion.

A rainbow is an example of dispersion in nature.

Tiny rain droplets act as prisms separating the colors in the white light rays from the sun.

Mirrors, Lenses and Images

We see a world of images created on the retina of the eye by the

lens in the front of the eye.

Objects are real physical things that give off or reflect light rays.

Images are “pictures” of objects that are formed in space where

light rays meet.
 The most common image we see every day is our own reflection in
a mirror.

The image in a mirror is called a virtual image because the light rays
do not actually come together.

The virtual image in a flat mirror is created by the eye and brain.

Virtual Images

Because the light rays do not actually meet, a virtual image

cannot be projected onto a screen or on film.

Virtual images are illusions created by your eye and brain.

Lenses

An ordinary lens is a polished, transparent disc, usually made of glass.

The shape of a converging lens is described as being “convex” because the

surfaces curve outward.
Mirrors, Lenses and Images

Light rays that enter a converging lens parallel to its axis bend to meet at a point called the focal point.

The distance from the center of the lens to the focal point is called the focal length.

The optical axis usually goes through the center of the lens.

Converging Lenses

For a converging lens, the first surface (air to glass) bends light rays toward the normal.

At the second surface (glass to air), the rays bend away from the normal line.

Diverging Lenses

A diverging lens bends the rays outward, away from the focal point.
Lenses

Drawing Ray Diagrams

A ray diagram is the best way to understand what type of image is formed by a lens, and whether the image is
magnified or inverted.

These three rays follow the rules for how light rays are bent by the lens:

1. A light ray passing through the center of the lens is not deflected at all (A).

2. A light ray parallel to the axis passes through the far focal point (B).

3. A light ray passing through the near focal point emerges parallel to the axis (C).
The image formed by a lens

A converging lens can also form a real image.

In a real image, light rays from the object actually come back together.

Real Images

To make an image of any object, a lens collects rays from every point on an object.

Rays from each point on the object are brought back together again to make each point of the image.

Even when you cover half the lens, you still see the whole image.
Magnification

The magnification of an image is the ratio of the size of the image divided by the
size of the object.

A lens with a magnification of 4 creates an image that appears four times larger
than the real – life object.

The Telescope

When people think of a telescope, most of them think of a refracting telescope.

An astronomical refracting telescope is constructed of two converging lenses with different focal lengths.

The lens with the longest focal length is called the objective and the shorter – focal – length lens is the eyepiece.

The Refracting Telescope

The image from this refracting telescope is inverted which is usually fine for looking at objects in space.

The Reflecting Telescope

Because high – quality, large lenses are difficult to make, reflecting telescopes use a concave mirror
instead of one lens.

The diagram shows a reflecting telescope, much like the one used by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Optical Systems

Optical systems are built from lenses, mirrors and prisms.

Optical systems do two things:

- collects light rays

- changes/processes the light rays to form an image.

A camera is an optical system that collects light to record an image.

Pin – hole Camera

A simple optical system can be made with a pinhole in a box.

The image inside the box forms because light rays that reach a point on the box surface are restricted by
the pinhole to come from only a pinhole – sized point on the object.
 The larger the lens, the brighter the image. This is because a larger lens collects more light rays.

Multiple lenses are useful because they allow an optical system to change the size of an image.

Recording Images

There are two basic techniques for recording images.

1. Film records an image by using special inks that respond to

light.

2. A digital camera uses a tiny sensor called a CCD.

There are separate light sensors for red light, blue light and green
light.

A color image is recorded as a table of numbers.

Each point on the image has three numbers

corresponding to the amount of red light, blue light
and green light.
 The resolution of a digital camera is the number of points called pixels, that can be recorded by the CCD.

A 2 megapixel camera stores 2 million pixels per image.

Since each pixel is three numbers, a 2 megapixel image requires 6 million stored numbers.

Reference: CPO Science

ASSESSMENT

Multiple Choice: Choose the best answer.

1. Which of the following is necessary for light to propagate?

A. air C. either

B. matter D. None of these are necessary

2. A star appears to be white according to its spectral composition, but it appears blue when observed through
telescope. What is the best explanation for this phenomenon?

A. the object is moving toward earth.

B. the object is moving parallel to Earth.

C. the object is moving away from earth.

D. all of the above.

3. Which of the following is necessary in order to classify the different types of electromagnetic radiation?

A. amplitude C. frequency

B. phase D. velocity
4. A pencil submerged in a clear glass of water may appear broken or bent when observed from the side of the glass.
Which of the following characteristics describes this broken or bent appearance?

A. refraction C. diffraction

B. reflection D. amplitude

5. A light ray strikes the mirror such that the angle of incidence is 30 degrees. What is the angle of reflection?

A. 0 degree C. 15 degrees

B. 30 degrees D. 60 degrees

6. Observe the picture of a student and a mirror. The student is seated at a table. What object will the student see in the
mirror?

A. sun and triangle

B. heart and sun

C. triangle and square

D. square and sun

7. Based on the ray diagram: The angle of reflection is 30 degrees. Which of the following is TRUE?

A. the angle of incidence is 60 degrees.

B. the total reflectance angle is 90 degrees.

C. the surface in which the ray reflected from is specular.

D. the incident ray is larger than the reflected ray.

8. The picture details what process?

A. Reflection of light

B. Scattering of light

C. Dispersion of white light

D. Reflection and refraction

9. The picture shows how we view our sky as blue. This

occurs due to __________.

A. the scattering of white light

B. sunlight being blue

C. light being refracted by our atmosphere

D. the dispersion of white light

10. What do water droplets in a rainbow act like?

A. prisms

B. reflectors

C. flashlights

D. lasers