Prelim Flashcards
(150 cards)
● Branch of physics which involves the
behavior and properties of light, including
its interaction with matter and the
construction of instruments that use or
detect it
● Usually describes the behavior of visible,
ultraviolet, and infrared light
.
OPTICS
- Deals with the formation of images by light
rays; includes the study of the influence of
plane and spherical mirrors, plane and
spherical refractors, thin and thick lenses,
prisms, and optical system upon light
.
GEOMETRICAL OPTICS
- Deals with the physical character and
behavior of light and its interaction with
matter
PHYSICAL OPTICS
- Deals with the interaction of light with the
atomic entities of matter and methods of
quantum mechanics
QUANTUM OPTICS
Form of radiant energy that makes object
visible, makes vision possible
● Light energy from the sun travels through
space, reaches earth, and some of it turns
to heat energy and warms the earth’s air
● When light reaches an object, it is
absorbed, reflected, or passes through.
LIGHT
Properties of light
- Light travels in straight lines.
- Light travels very fast.
Speed of light = 186,000 mi/s (300,000
- Light emitted by luminous objects is
composed of a stream of corpuscles which
are tiny particles of matter that travel in
straight lines, at a finite speed, and have
different sizes corresponding to different
colors - Light traveling from air to water increases
speed, while light entering water will
decrease the speed - When corpuscles fall on the retina, they
produce an image of the object or
sensation of vision - Accounts for Reflection and Dispersion
Sir Isaac Newton in the late 17th century
Undulatory Theory
- Light is emitted in a series of waves that
spread out from a source in all directions
- These waves are not affected by gravity
- Introduced the concept of wavefronts and
the Huygens’ principle, which states that
every point on a wavefront is a source of
secondary spherical wavelets
- Disagreed with Newton and said that light
traveling from air to water will decrease
speed and vice versa
- Accounts for Diffraction and Refraction
Christiaan Huygens in 1678
- Performed a decisive experiment that
seemed to demand a wave interpretation,
turning the side of support to the wave
theory of light
Thomas Young
- Performed an experimental support for the
Wave Theory
Heinrich Hertz
- Published results of his experiments and
analysis, which required that light be a transverse wave
-Assumed that light waves in an ether were
necessarily longitudinal, light rays can not
pass around obstacles
Augustin Fresnel
- Light has its origin in ether waves set up by
electrical disturbances - “This velocity is so nearly that of light, that
it seems we have strong reason to conclude
that light itself (including radiant heat, and
other radiations if any) is an
electromagnetic disturbance in the form of
waves propagated through the
electromagnetic field according to
electromagnetic laws”
19th Century - From then on, light was viewed as a
particular region of the electromagnetic
spectrum of radiation - Light is an electromagnetic wave!
Electromagnetic Theory (Maxwell)
- Light waves travel as separate packets of
energy called quanta or photons - Merged the subjects of the Corpuscular,
Wave, and Electromagnetic Theories
together - introduced the concept of
quantization of energy, and Einstein
proposed that light consists of particles
called photons, which carry energy in
discrete packets or quanta. This theory
suggests that light exhibits both wave-like
and particle-like properties, leading to the
concept of wave-particle duality. - Proven to be the correct and most accurate theory.
Quantum Theory
Max Planck in 1900
Based on 3 Fundamental Laws:
○ The Law of Rectilinear Propagation
○ The Law of Reflection
○ The Law of Refraction
Substance:
Vacuum
Air
Ice
Water
Ethyl alcohol
Crown glass
Light flint glass
Dense flint glass
Zircon
Diamond
Polycarbonate
CR-39
PMMA
1.0000
1.000
1.31
1.333
1.36
1.523
1.58
1.67
1.923
2.417
1.58
1.49
1.49
● Light waves are three dimensional
● Light waves vibrate in all planes around a center line
Electromagnetic Radiation Waves
-a disturbance that travels in a
hypothetical medium called ether
WAVE
wave whose particles of
the medium vibrate at right angle to the
direction in which the wave travels.
Transverse wave
transverse waves in which
the direction of vibration is at right angles
to the direction of propagation.
Wave motion
path of single corpuscle of light from a
single point on a light source
RAY
collection of divergent, convergent,
or parallel rays
a. Divergent pencil: rays leaving a
point on a source that travel away
from each other and do not cross at
any point
b. Convergent pencil: rays that are
aimed toward a single point on an
image or object
c. Parallel pencil: rays emitted by a
source at an infinite position.
PENCIL
a collection of divergent,
convergent, or parallel pencils arising from
an extended source.
BEAM OF LIGHT
● The vergence of pencil at any particular
position is the reciprocal of the distance
from the position to the luminous point or
the focus
● The unit of vergence is the diopter—the
vergence of a pencil one meter from a
luminous point or focus
VERGENCE
● The vergence of pencil at any particular
position is the reciprocal of the distance
from the position to the luminous point or
the focus
● The unit of vergence is the diopter—the
vergence of a pencil one meter from a
luminous point or focus
VERGENCE