Color Polarization Reflection and Refraction Snells Law Fundamentals

Color Polarization Reflection and Refraction Snell’s Law….

Fundamentals of Light • Objects that are transparent allow light to pass through them. • The atoms absorb and transmit the light so it passes through the material. • Objects that are opaque do not let light pass through them. • The atoms in these materials absorb the light as kinetic energy instead of letting it pass through.

Fundamentals of Light • Transverse waves can oscillate up and down, or left and right. • The wave is therefore said to be polarized in that direction • The polarization depends on the direction of vibration the electron has. Vertically oscillating electron = vertically oscillating photon • Sunglasses can filter out light of a particular polarization, making it dimmer

Fundamentals of Light • Polarized light have vibrations that occur in one plane (vertical or horizontal), non polarized light has light which has multiple types of polarization • 3 D glasses have lenses with different polarizations, which creates the illusion of 3 D images!

Color • When you put sunlight into a triangular-shaped glass, you can break up the light into a spread of colors of the spectrum. • White color is a combination of all colors. Black color is the absence of color.

Color • The atoms an object is made of reflect or absorb particular wavelengths, this is what gives an object color.

Color • Some types of glass can only transmit one wavelength of color. • Example: blue colored glass will absorb all other colors and transmit blue light.

Reflection and Refraction • When a light ray strikes a reflecting surface, the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence. • The change in direction or bending of light at the boundary from one medium to another is called refraction.

Reflection and Refraction • Refraction only occurs when the angle of incidence is not straight onto the surface of the new medium. If θ 1 is 0, there is no refraction. • Once the light ray is in a new medium, the speed of light can slow down.

Reflection and Refraction •

Reflection and Refraction • Here is a table of values for the index of refraction (n): • n is unit less

Reflection and Refraction • Do the 3 problems on the worksheet. I made them for you • Homework will be assigned on Tuesday