OPTICS

The Visible Light Spectrum

Parts of a Transverse Wave

Properties of Light

❑ Reflection -when light bounces off an object.

❑ Refraction -the bending of a wave when it enters a medium

where its speed is different.

❑ Diffraction - the slight bending of light as it passes around the

edge of an object.

Different Light Phenomena

a. Reflection Explanation:

The type of reflection that is seen in a mirror depends upon

the mirror's shape and, in some cases, how far away from the
mirror the object being reflected is positioned. The case of the
reflection on a spoon is given by concave and convex surfaces
in mirrors.
b. Mirage Explanation:
A mirage is an optical phenomenon that creates the illusion
of water and results from the refraction of light through a non-
uniform medium which usually occurs on sunny days. The sun
heats the roadway thus giving it high temperature and the
surrounding air of the surface is heated while the day’s average
temperature remains the same.
Hot air tends to be less optically dense than cooler air. As
such, a non-uniform medium has been created by the heating of
the roadway and the air just above it. While light will travel in a
The figure below shows the straight line through a uniform medium, it will refract when
apparent image that will be traveling through a non-uniform medium. If a driver looks down at
seen by the observer brought the roadway at a very low angle (that is, at a position nearly one
about by the bending of light. hundred yards away), light from objects above the roadway will
follow a curved path to the driver's eye.

Retrieved at:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/refrn/Lesson-4/Mirages

c. Absorption Explanation:

Atoms and molecules contain electrons and these

d. Haloes, sundogs, Raibows
electrons of atoms have a natural frequency at which they tend
to vibrate. When a light wave with that same natural frequency
impinges upon an atom, then the electrons of that atom will be
set into vibrational motion. If a light wave of a given frequency
strikes a material with electrons having the same vibrational
frequencies, then those electrons will absorb the energy of the
light wave and transform it into vibrational motion.
Colorless glass lets light pass through it unhindered. This glass
is transparent. Cellophane and colored glass are also transparent
because you can see through them. However, the color of what
you see is changed. If you look through red cellophane,
everything on the other side appears to be shades of red. If you
look through green glass, everything appears green. Green
cellophane will only allow green light to pass through it. The
cellophane absorbs other colors of light.
Retrieved at:
http://www1.curriculum.edu.au/sciencepd/readings/ligh_colour
.htm
Explanation:

Halo also known as a nimbus, icebow or gloriole - is an

optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating colored
or white arcs and spots in the sky. Many are near the sun or moon
but others are elsewhere and even in the opposite part of the sky.
They can also form around artificial lights in very cold weather
when ice crystals called diamond dust are floating in the nearby
air.
Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split
up into colors because of dispersion. The crystals behave like prisms and
 mirrors, refracting and reflecting sunlight between their faces, sending
Sun dogs shafts of light in particular directions.
Sun dogs (scientific name parhelion, plural parhelia, e.g.
"with the sun") is a relatively common halo, an atmospheric
optical phenomenon mostly associated with the refraction of
sunlight by small ice crystals making up cirrus or cirrostratus clouds.
Another term used is sunbow (an arch resembling a rainbow
made by the sun shining through vapor or mist).
Sundogs typically, but not exclusively, appear when the sun
is low, e.g. at sunrise and sunset, and the atmosphere is filled with
ice crystals forming cirrus clouds, but diamond dust and ice fog
can also produce them. They are often bright white patches of
light looking much like the sun or a comet and are occasionally
confused with those phenomena. Sometimes they exhibit a
spectrum of colors, ranging from red closest to the sun to a pale
bluish tail stretching away from the sun.
The ice crystals causing atmospheric phenomenon are
shaped as hexagonal prisms (ice Ih, e.g. with a hexagonal top
and bottom and six rectangular sides). Some of these crystals are
elongated, some flat; the latter causing crisp and bright sundogs
if evenly oriented with their hexagonal ends aligned horizontally,
while the former produces other atmospheric phenomenon, such
as parhelic circle, 22° halo, circumzenithal arc, upper tangent
arc, and lower tangent arc. A mixture of various crystals with
different alignments produces several of these phenomenon at
the same time.

Rainbows result from refraction of sunlight in falling water

Rainbow
droplets plus reflection of the light from the back of the droplet.

Primary Rainbow
The primary rainbow forms between about 40° and 42° from
the antisolar point. The light path involves refraction and a single
reflection inside the water droplet. If the drops are large, 1
millimeter or more in diameter, red, green, and violet are bright
but there is little blue. Such large droplets are suggested by the
rainbow at right. As the droplets get smaller, red weakens. In fine
mist, all colors except violet may disappear. Even finer fog
droplets, smaller than 0.05 mm, produce the white rainbow or fog
bow.

Secondary Rainbow
The secondary rainbow involves two reflections inside the
falling droplets. The secondary rainbow is about 10° further out
from the antisolar point than the primary bow, is about twice as
wide, and has its colors reversed. According to Schaaf, the light
of the secondary bow is one-tenth the intensity of that of the
primary bow, given the same viewing conditions.

Retrieved at:
http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/atmos/rbowpri.html
f. Clouds Sunlight
When clouds become thick and heavy, very little light shines
through them and they appear darker to our eyes. Once clouds
reach about 3,000 feet in thickness, almost no light penetrates.
The cloud appears dark, and ground conditions resemble dusk or
evening. Heavy clouds that rise between you and the sun also
block light from penetrating, so they appear dark as they
approach from the horizon.

Water Droplets
Rainclouds Tiny water droplets or ice crystals produce clouds. These
droplets and crystals reflect sunlight, scattering the reflections in
all different directions. The size of water droplets is just right for
scattering all colors in the sunlight’s spectrum. This differs from the
relatively smaller size of air molecules, which tend to scatter light
in the blue color range more effectively, which is why the sky
appears blue. When eyes see all colors scattered, the result is
white. Less scattering becomes gray, then nearly black. Storm
clouds, laden with water droplets that are ready to fall, have a
darker tone.

Heavy Clouds
Approaching cold fronts often fire up thunderstorms as the
cold air mass behind the front lifts warm air ahead of it. This causes
tall columns of cumulonimbus clouds, which are capable of
reaching heights of 45,000 feet. This type of cloud is an example
of the kind of storm cloud that appears to darken as the storm
nears, and has dark or gray patterns as viewed from a a distance.
Nimbostratus clouds do not rise nearly as high as cumulonimbus,
but are thick storm clouds that appear dark. Nimbus is a root word
for rain or precipitation in cloud types.
Retrieved at:
https://sciencing.com/rain-clouds-dark-23342.html
g. Blue sky and Red sunset Explanation:

The interaction of sunlight with matter can result in one of

three wave behaviors: absorption, transmission, and reflection.
The atmosphere is a gaseous sea that contains a variety of types
of particles; the two most common types of matter present in the
atmosphere are gaseous nitrogen and oxygen. These particles
are most effective in scattering the higher frequency and shorter
wavelength portions of the visible light spectrum. This scattering
process involves the absorption of a light wave by an atom
followed by reemission of a light wave in a variety of directions.

The amount of multidirectional scattering that occurs is

dependent upon the frequency of the light. Atmospheric nitrogen
and oxygen scatter violet light most easily, followed by blue light,
green light, etc. So as white light (ROYGBIV) from the sun passes
through our atmosphere, the high frequencies (BIV) become
scattered by atmospheric particles while the lower frequencies
(ROY) are most likely to pass through the atmosphere without a
significant alteration in their direction. This scattering of the higher
 frequencies of light illuminates the skies with light on the BIV end
of the visible spectrum. Compared to blue light, violet light is most
easily scattered by atmospheric particles. However, our eyes are
more sensitive to light with blue frequencies. Thus, we view the
skies as being blue in color.

Red Sunset Sunset

Meanwhile, the light that is not scattered is able to pass
through our atmosphere and reach our eyes in a rather non-
interrupted path. The lower frequencies of sunlight (ROY) tend to
reach our eyes as we sight directly at the sun during midday.
While sunlight consists of the entire range of frequencies of visible
light, not all frequencies are equally intense. In fact, sunlight tends
to be most rich with yellow light frequencies. For these reasons,
the sun appears yellow during midday due to the direct passage
of dominant amounts of yellow frequencies through our
atmosphere and to our eyes.
The appearance of the sun changes with the time of day.
While it may be yellow during midday, it is often found to
gradually turn color as it approaches sunset. This can be
explained by light scattering.

As the path that sunlight takes through our atmosphere

increases in length, ROYGBIV encounters more and more
atmospheric particles. This results in the scattering of greater and
greater amounts of yellow light. During sunset hours, the light
passing through our atmosphere to our eyes tends to be most
concentrated with red and orange frequencies of light. For this
reason, the sunsets have a reddish-orange hue. The effect of a
red sunset becomes more pronounced if the atmosphere
contains more and more particles. The presence of sulfur aerosols
(emitted as an industrial pollutant and by volcanic activity) in our
atmosphere contributes to some magnificent sunsets (and some
very serious environmental problems).
Retrieved at:
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light/Lesson-2/Blue-
Skies-and-Red-Sunsets