AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/

Cues Here

LIGHT: AN INTRODUCTION

What is Light?
• Although historical theories of the nature of light swung back
and forth between wave and particle models, the accepted
understanding of light is that it is an energy phenomenon that
exhibits behaviours of both waves and particles.
• The wave properties of light match the properties of other
waves save one very important distinction: light requires no
medium through which to propagate.
• Light is, in fact, electromagnetic radiation: an alternating
pattern of electric and magnetic fields that oscillate at specific
frequencies and wavelengths. The full range of the various
kinds of light exist within the electromagnetic spectrum:

Red – Orange – Yellow – Green – Blue – Indigo – Violet

• The universal wave equation applies to light, connecting the
frequencies and wavelengths in the spectrum.
• The speed at which the light travels in a vacuum is constant c…

Speed of light in a vacuum, c = 3.00 × 108 m/s (299 792 458 m/s)
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

Refraction of Light
• Although light does not require a medium through which to
travel, light is affected by the material through which it travels:
the speed of light in a given material decreases based on the
optical properties of that material.
• Thus, by definition, light refracts—changes speed—within
various materials according to the index of refraction n for that
material:
𝑐
𝑣=
𝑛
Common indexes of refraction: vacuum = 1, air = 1.00, water =
1.33, diamond = 2.42 …diamond can be described as being
more ‘optically dense’ than water…
• This falls in line with the notion that the speed of a physical
wave depends on its medium. In this case, however, we are
simply considering the material that the light is passing
through. Nevertheless, we can apply the same idea: speed
depends on the medium, frequency on the source, and
wavelength connects them. An extension to that, then, is that
the wavelength of light will change with the material it passes
through.

Ray Model of Light

• ‘Wavefronts’ of light will radiate from a source and fill the
space, thus the intensity of the light from a source will follow
the inverse-square law just as sound does.
• It is more convenient to consider a different model for light
radiating from a source: instead of a source producing light in
the form of wavefronts that radiate away, we imagine the
source producing rays—straight lines of light—that radiate in
all directions. A ray runs perpendicular to wavefronts, showing
the direction of wave travel.
• Regardless of the model of light that is considered, the same
behaviours of waves can be applied to light… reflection,
refraction, diffraction and interference are all exhibited by
light.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

LIGHT: REFRACTION

Refraction
• Light experiences refraction, slowing
as it passes through a material other
than a vacuum.
• It follows that if a ray of light were
incident on a boundary between two
media at an angle, the path of that
ray will ‘bend’, according to the Law
of Refraction.
• Consider light passing from water into air and vice versa:

θ1
θ2
AIR
WATER
θ1
θ2

• Light incident from air into water ‘slows down’ and bends
towards the normal line at the point of contact with the
boundary. Light incident from water into air ‘speeds up’ and
bends away from the normal line.
• The relationship between the two angles in connected by the
indexes of refraction for the two media, and expressed in
Snell’s Law, which is merely an alternative expression of the
Law of Refraction:
𝑛% 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃% = 𝑛) 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃)
In Snell’s Law, however, the two angles- incidence (1) and
refraction (2)- are measured between the ray of light and the
normal line.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

Total Internal Reflection & the Critical Angle

• Light incident from a ‘slow’ medium to a ‘fast’ medium, such as
in water to air, will bend away from the normal such that the
angle of refraction is always bigger than the angle of incidence.
• There comes a point, however, where the angle of refraction
reaches a maximum… 90 degrees!
• The incident angle that results in an angle of refraction of 90° is
defined as the critical angle. With this definition and Snell’s
Law, the critical angle can be calculated for the boundary
between any two media:
𝑛)
𝑠𝑖𝑛𝜃* =
𝑛%
• As a ray with a refracted angle of 90° is not terribly useful, the
critical angle is relevant as a reference…
o …if the angle of incidence at a given boundary is less than
the critical angle, then refraction will occur as normal
according to Snell’s Law.
o …if the angle of incidence in greater than the critical angle,
then refraction will not occur, and instead the boundary acts
as a barrier- a reflective barrier where the ray of light
reflects at the same angle! This behaviour is referred to as
total internal reflection.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

LIGHT: REFLECTION & IMAGE FORMATION

Reflection
• When a ray of light is incident on a reflective surface, it obeys
the Law of Reflection whereby the angle of reflection to the
normal is equal to the angle of incidence.
• A reflective surface must be smooth so that incident rays that
are parallel will all reflect at the same angle. A non-reflective
surface diffuses reflects rays in random directions, due to the
uneven nature of the surface.

Image Formation
• When looking at an image in a plane mirror, the image appears
to originate from behind the mirror.
• Humans are able, of course, to distinguish between objects
and images; however, an observer’s eyes are capturing light
rays that, if traced back, appear to come from a point beyond
the mirror.
• In detecting an image formed from reflected rays, just two rays
need to be considered: their point of convergence determines
the location of that point of image.
• In a plane mirror, the image characteristics will be that (1) it is
upright, (2) it is equal in size to the object, and (3) it is as far
from the mirror behind and as the object is in front.
• Tracing reflected rays to find the image location is
unnecessary. But in reflective surfaces that are not planar, the
process does require the examination of at least two rays
originating from a distinct part of the object in order to locate
that same part of image formed.

Spherical Mirrors
• Curve the mirror surface, and the properties of image formed
by the mirror are not so easily predicted. Spherical mirrors are
mirrors curved such that they have a distinct centre and radius.
• In spherical mirrors, the reflective surface can be found on
‘either side’ of the “curve”:
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

CONCAVE MIRRORS = the mirror surface is on the inside of the

spherical curve.
CONVEX MIRRORS = the mirror surface is on the outside of the
spherical curve.

• These mirrors both have a principle axis: a line that runs from
the middle of the mirror to the centre of the sphere from which
it is ‘cut’. The principle axis runs perpendicular to the surface of
the mirror, and so the radius of the mirror can be measured
along this axis.
• Spherical mirrors are distinct in that rays of light that run
parallel and that are close to the principle axis are reflected to
a single point called the focal point. The focal point lies along
the principle axis, halfway between the mirror and the centre.
Thus, the focal length, f of the mirror is defined in terms of the
mirror’s radius R:
%
𝑓, = )𝑅
• The focal point is the point of convergence for parallel rays
that run close to the principle axis.
• Parallel rays that are far from that axis miss the focal point
upon reflection, due to the shape of the mirror. This results in
what is called the spherical aberration, a phenomenon which
can be avoided if the size of the mirror is small compared to its
radius. In order to ensure that parallel rays, no matter how far
from the principle axis, reflect to the focal point, the mirror
must actually have a parabolic shape.

Ray Diagrams with Mirrors

• The focal point of a spherical mirror is key to using rays to
locate the image formed.
• It only takes two rays to locate an image, the obvious rays are
“parallel-to-focal point” and “focal point-to-parallel”.
• A third ray can be employed: the ray that runs through the
centre of the mirror at the principle axis. This ray strikes the
mirror surface at 90°, thus it reflects back at the exact angle.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

• The point of convergence of these rays is the location of the

point on the image of the corresponding point on the object
placed in front of the mirror. With that location, you can
determine characteristics of the image.

Mirror Calculations
• Ray diagrams can predict the nature of the image formed, but
the mirror equation, along with the magnification equation,
can be used to calculate all the characteristics of the image and
object.
/0 30
Magnification Equation: 𝑀= =−
/1 31
% % %
Mirror Equation: = +
45 30 31
• There is a specific sign convention for the image and object
distances and heights that must be followed for these
equations to be used correctly.

Mirrors: A Summary
A Real Image is always Inverted and In Front of the Mirror
A Virtual Image is always Upright and “In” the Mirror

Sign Convention:
Concave Mirror Convex Mirror
fL + −
do & ho +
+ when the image is Real & Inverted
di
− when the image is Virtual & Upright
+ when the image is Upright compared to the
object
hi & M
− when the image is Inverted compared to the
object
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

LIGHT: LENSES

Refraction through Lenses

• Lenses are optical devices that refract light to form an image.
• When lenses are spherical in shape, and thin compared to the
size of their radii, they focus rays of light that run close and
parallel to the principal axis to a single point: the focal point.
• As with mirrors, spherical lenses come as either convex or
concave, but on both sides of the lens. And as mirrors, the
distance from a lens to its focal point- its focal length- is equal
to half of its radius.
• Despite the variety of shapes that lenses can have, they can be
categorized into either converging or diverging lenses.

CONVERGING LENSES ‘bend’ rays such that they converge

towards the principal axis.
DIVERGING LENSES ‘bend’ rays such that they diverge away from
the principal axis.

• This is demonstrated clearly in “double-concave” and “double-

convex” (“double” referring to the two curved sides) lenses
and their respective focal points:

F F F F

• The focal point that determines the path of the refracted rays is
the one that converges the light for convex lenses, and
diverges the light for concave lenses. As a result, these lenses
can be referred to as converging and diverging lenses,
respectively.

Ray Diagrams with Lenses

• Again, as with mirrors, the focal points of a lens are key to
using rays to locate the image formed.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

• As it still only takes two rays to locate an image, the obvious

rays are “parallel-to-focal point” and “focal point-to-parallel”.
• A third ray can be employed: the ray that runs through the
centre of the lens at the principle axis. Though the ray of light
is displaced at this point, the ray can be assumed to run along
a straight line if the lens is thin compared to its focal length.

Lens Calculations
• Ray diagrams can predict the nature of the image formed, but
the lens equation, along with the magnification equation, can
be used to calculate all the characteristics of the image and
object, as it was done with mirrors.
/0 30
Magnification Equation: 𝑀= =−
/1 31
% % %
Lens Equation: = +
45 30 31
• Lenses, too, have a specific sign convention for the image and
object distances and heights that must be followed for these
equations to be used correctly.

Lenses: A Summary
A Real Image is always Inverted and Beyond the Lens
A Virtual Image is always Upright and In Front of the Lens
Sign Convention:
Converging Lens Diverging Lens

(Double Convex) (Double Concave)
fL + −
do & ho +
+ when image is Real & Inverted… beyond the lens
di - when image is Virtual & Upright… in front of the
lens
+ when image is Upright
hi & M
− when image is Inverted
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

OPTICS: ISSUES WITH MIRRORS & LENSES

Mirrors: Spherical Aberration

• The focal points for concave and convex mirrors are truly focal
points for rays that are close to the principle axis.
• Rays that are far from the principle axis actually miss the focal
point after reflection, results in a blurred image. This is known
as a spherical aberration.
• Spherical aberrations can be avoided if the mirror is small, so
rays end up close to the principle axis.
• For large mirrors, they must be parabolic in shape in order for
reflected rays to focus at a single point.

Lenses: Spherical & Chromatic Aberrations

• Just as mirrors have spherical aberrations associated with
them, so too do spherical lenses. Rays that are far from the
principle axis do not pass through the focal point
• A chromatic aberration arises only with lenses because light of
different colours refract different through a lens (or any other
transparent material).
• A property of the index of refraction is that its value in anything
but a vacuum depends on the wavelength of light… the greater
the wavelength, the smaller the index of refraction.
• So, according to Snell’s Law, light of different wavelengths is
bent at different angles when incident on a refracting material
like a lens… this is dispersion.
• Dispersion is what leads to rainbows of light through a prism or
in the sky with sunlight hits water droplets.
• In a lens, dispersion leads to coloured fringes around images,
usually a violet fringe as it is the light that bends the most…
smallest wavelength, greatest index of refraction.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

Lenses: Lenses in Combination

• Optical devices such as binoculars, microscopes, and
telescopes do not employ a single lens, but rather multiple
lenses in combination.
• Our eyes, for one, require eyeglass lenses to assist in the
formation of images when they lose their ability to form clear
images.
• In any case, a simple concept holds for lenses in combination:
the image produced by one lens serves as the object for the
next lens.
• The purpose of multiple lenses is to produce magnification
factors that are not possible from a single lens, thus the overall
magnification is a product of the magnifications of the
individual lenses.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

WAVE BEHAVIOURS OF LIGHT: POLARIZATION

Light exhibits wave behaviours due to the transverse nature of
electromagnetic radiation. An electro-magnetic ‘wave’ is merely a
continuously oscillating set of electric and magnetic fields,
oriented as shown:

In the picture, the direction of the oscillating charge that

determines the orientation of the electric and magnetic fields that
result. But that charge can, and does, vibrate in all directions,
meaning that the electromagnetic waves are oscillating in all
orientations. The result is unpolarized light.
When light becomes polarized, the electromagnetic waves are
only permitted to oscillate along a single, linear orientation.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

How light gets polarized:

ü Polarization by Reflection: When light reflects off of a surface,

the light becomes partially polarized along a line that is parallel
to that surface. For example, sunlight that reflects off of a lake
will become partially polarized in the horizontal direction. The
angle of reflection determines the extent to which the light is
polarized.
ü Polarization by Absorption: Polaroid is a material that
contains molecules that exhibit the behaviour of absorbing
light along a particular orientation. Polaroid sunglasses, for
example, are coated in this material such that light oscillating
in a particular orientation is absorbed, thus reducing the
intensity of light passing through the lenses.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

In fact, Polaroid sunglasses are used to cope with reflected

sunlight off of water, snow, and even cloudbanks (for pilots). As
the light is polarized horizontally, the sunglasses are polarized
vertically to reduce the intensity of the reflected light--- the glare
of sunlight!
 AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

WAVE BEHAVIOURS OF LIGHT: DIFFRACTION &

INTERFERENCE

Young’s Double Slit Experiment

ü The wave nature of light is best demonstrated in that it
experiences two behaviours that are truly unique to waves:
diffraction and interference.
In 1801 in England, Thomas Young
conducted an experiment that resulted
in a theory of light as a wave. Sending
a beam of monochromatic light
through two very narrow slits cut very
close to each other, the light projected
a pattern of light and dark fringes on a
screen beyond. The conclusion of the
experiment was that (1) the light
experienced diffraction through the
slits (as water waves do through a gap
in a barrier), and (2) it experienced
interference at points on the screen,
causing the bright and dark fringes
respectively.
ü Consider two slits separated by a distance d with a screen a
distance of L away. Tracing two rays from the slits to the centre
of the pattern on the screen beyond, it is easy to see that the
distance from each slit is equal. Thus, the light rays are in
phase and constructively interfere:
incident light

l1
L Central Bright
beam

d fringe… Constructive
Interference
l2
screen

l1 = l2 …in phase

ü As with any interference pattern, this point on the screen

represents an antinode- a maximum in light interference.
 AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

ü On either side of this central maximum will be the first nodes

or first minima- the light rays from the two slits are completely
out of phase. Thus, the distance from one slit to the screen
must be one-half of a wavelength farther than the distance
from the other slit:

l1
incident light

First Dark fringe…

L Destructive
beam

d
Interference
l2

screen
l1 - l2 = ½ λ
…out of phase

ü This pattern continues such that at the first bright fringes, the
light rays are in phase again, and thus the distance from one
must be a full wavelength greater than the other, etc…

l1 First Bright fringe…

incident light

Constructive
L l2
beam

d Interference

l1 - l2 = λ

screen
…in phase
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

Calculations Involving Interference

ü The factors that affect the interference pattern that is
projected on a distant screen are as follows:
The wavelength of the light: The interference pattern of fringes is determined
on whether the rays from each slit are in phase or out of phase. Phase is defined
in terms of λ! With greater wavelength, the greater the separation of fringes
on the screen.
The separation of slits: Each slit acts as a source of the light rays that interfere.
The closer they are to each other, the farther along the screen you must go to
find points where the rays are in phase/out of phase. With greater slit
separation, the smaller the separation of fringes on the screen.

ü The separation between fringes in the interference pattern is

best expressed as an angle, as measured from the central line
that runs from the slits. Regardless of where the interference
pattern is projected, the angle at which a bright fringe is
located will be the same.
ü Young found that if d is the separation of slits and is the
angle of the bright fringe from the centre line, then:

𝑑 sin 𝜃 = 𝑚𝜆
…where m = 1, 2, 3… corresponding to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd… bright
fringe.
ü But on a fixed screen, that angle can be expressed in terms
of the distance to the screen L and the distance from the
central bright fringe any fringe is located x. Consider the first
bright fringe, where m = 1:

x
θ
L
slits

screen

?
In the triangle above… tan 𝜃 =
,
From 𝑑 sin 𝜃 = 𝑚𝜆 the angle 𝜃 is the same, so…
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

𝜆
sin 𝜃 =
𝑑
When this angle is small, as it is these cases, then… tan 𝜃 ≈ sin 𝜃

tan 𝜃 ≈ sin 𝜃
𝑥 𝜆 𝜆𝐿
≈ ∴ 𝑥 ≈
𝐿 𝑑 𝑑
In general, for any bright fringe…
𝑚𝜆𝐿
𝑥E ≈
𝑑
…where m = 1, 2, 3… corresponding to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd… bright
fringe/maximum.
ü Although these two expressions are generally used to
predict the interference pattern of light, they can be
employed in the interference pattern of any type of
interfering waves: sound, water waves, etc.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

LIGHT: THIN FILM INTERFERENCE

When gasoline floats atop water in a puddle, sunlight causes a
rainbow of colours to swirl on the surface. This behaviour is caused
by the interference of specific wavelengths of light due to the thin
film of gasoline…
Consider a ray of light incident on a thin film that rests on top of
water….
• Although that ray of light refracts through into the film, it also
experiences partial reflection.
• That reflected ray experiences a one-half wavelength change
in phase because the n for the film is greater than the n for the
air. (Essentially, it is the same thing that happens as a pulse in a
linear medium shifts phase when it reflects off of a boundary
between a fast medium to a slow medium.)
• The remainder of light that does in fact refract into the film
proceeds to the film-water boundary. There, some light will
reflect again, but this reflected does not experience any phase
change because the n of the film is less than the n of water.
• As this ray refracts back into the air, it will interfere with the ray
of light that reflected at the air-film boundary.

…the two rays

interfere

air
Reflected light
changes phase
by ½ λ
film

Reflected light water

experiences no
phase change

• The thickness of the film will determine whether that

interference is constructive or destructive, given that the light
must travel up and down through that thickness, and the two
rays will be either in or out of phase with each other.
AP Physics 2 Add Important Notes/
Cues Here

\ If that distance (= two times the thickness of the film… down

+ up…) corresponds to multiples of a full wavelength of light in
the film, the two rays will be out of phase, and destructive
interference will result.
If that distance corresponds to multiples of half wavelength of
light in the film, the two rays will be in phase, and constructive
interference will result.
Since layers of film—such as the soapy film that coats water in a
bubble, or gas film atop a water puddle—is not perfectly even in
depth, there are typically erratic patterns of interference visible.
Given that the light incident on these films is usually white light,
the resulting interference patterns involve the various wavelengths
of light. Thus, it
easy for the
wavelength of a
certainly colour at
a certain point to
be the one that
experiences the
most constructive
interference.