Week 3: Light as an Electromagnetic Wave

INTANT TASK: EYE - EXPERIMENT SCORE: _________

Light is important in our everyday life. It enables us to see things and do things. Try these eye-experiments and see
how your brain reacts with light.
I. Do you have a blind-spot?
1. Hold this module at eye level about an arm’s length away. Make sure
that the cross is on the right.
2. Close your right eye and look directly at the cross with your left eye.
Notice that you can also see the dot.
3. Focus on the cross, but be aware of the dot as you slowly bring the
module toward your face. What happens to the dot as you move the
module towards your face?
As I move my face closer, the dot disappears for a second and reappears again as I continue.

4. This time, close your left eye and look directly at the dot with your right eye. Bring the module slowly toward your
face. What happens to the cross as you move the module towards your face?
In this situation, when I focus on the dot, the cross disappears and as I continue to move forward it
reappears again.

II. Which eye do you use more?

To test which you favor, hold a finger up at arm’s length. With both eyes open, look past it at a distant object.
Now close your right eye. What happens to your finger? Does it appear to jump on the right side?

When I closed my right eye, it appears that the finger jumped on its right side. Then, I tried closing my
left eye, the object moved just a little bit tot the left. This means that my right eye is more dominant than the
left one because the object moved more to the right, when I closed my right eye.

FLASH CHECK SCORE: ____________

Read and answer the following.
1. The wavelength of the red light from a helium-neon laser is 633 nm in air but 474 nm in the aqueous humor
inside your eyeball. Calculate the index of refraction of the aqueous humor and the speed and frequency of the
light in it. (assume λ0 = λair)
Given: Substitution & Solution:
λ0 = 633 nm = 633 x 10-9 m 633 x 10−9 m
λ = 474 nm = 474 x 10-9 m a. n =
474 x 10−9 m
c = 3.00 x 108 m/s n = 1.34

Unknown:
3.00 x 108 m/s
a. n =? b. v =
1.34
b. v =?
v = 224644549.8 m/s
c. f =?
v = 2.25 x 108 m/s

Equation:
3.00 x 108 m/s
λ λ c. f =
a. λ = 0 n = 0 633 x 10−9 m
n λ
f = 4.74 x 1014 Hz
c c
b. n =  v =
v n
c
2. A diver shines a flashlight upward from beneath the water at a 35.2° angle to the vertical. At what angle does the
light leave the water? Draw a diagram for your answer.
Given: Substitution:
n1 = 1.33 (water) 1.33 sin (35.2°) = 1.0003 sin Θ2
n2 = 1.0003 (air)
Θ1 = 35.2° Solution:
1.33
sin (35.2°) = sin Θ2
Unknown: 1.0003
Θ2 =? sin Θ2 = (1.329) sin (35.2°)
sin Θ2 = 0.7664…
Equation: Θ2 = sin-1 (0.7664…)
n1 sin Θ1 = n2 sin Θ2 Θ2 = 50.03°

3. Rays of the Sun are seen to make a 36.0° angle to the vertical beneath the water. At what angle above the horizon
is the Sun? Draw a diagram for your answer

Given: Substitution & Solution:

n1 = 1.0003 (air) a. 1.0003 sin Θ1 = 1.33 sin (36.0)
n2 = 1.33(water) 1.33
sin Θ1 = sin (36.0°)
Θ2 = 36.0° 1.0003
sin Θ1 = (1.329) sin (36.0°)
Unknown: sin Θ1 = 0.7815…
a. Θ1 =? Θ1 = sin-1 (0.7815…)
b. Let S: Sun’s angle above the horizon =? Θ1 = 51.4°

Equation: b. S = 90° - 51.4°

a. n1 sin Θ1 = n2 sin Θ2 S = 38.6°
b. S = 90° - Θ1
 Week 4: Geometric Optics: Plane Mirror
FLASH CHECK SCORE: _________
Read and answer the following.
1. A candle 4.85 cm tall is 39.2 cm to the left of a plane mirror. Where is the image formed by the mirror, and what
is the height of this image? Explain your answer.
The image is 39.2 cm to the right of the mirror (-39.2 cm) and is 4.85 cm tall. For a plane mirror the image
is always the same distance behind the mirror as the object is in front of the mirror. Also, the lateral
magnification for a plane mirror is unity where the object’s height is the same as the formed image’s height.
Here’s a diagram I drew, for proof:

2. A pencil that is 9.0 cm long is held perpendicular to the surface of a plane mirror with the tip of the pencil lead
12.0 cm from the mirror surface and the end of the eraser 21.0 cm from the mirror surface. (a) What is the length
of the image of the pencil that is formed by the mirror? (b) Which end of the image is closer to the mirror surface:
the tip of the lead or the end of the eraser? Explain your answer

a. The length of the image pencil formed is still 9 com long since the length of the image is equal to the
length of the object. The ratio between the object’s height and the image’s height is shown through the
lateral magnification. This means that the length of both image and object is equal.
b. The tip of the lead is closer to the mirror since the images’ distance (s’) is the same as the objects’ (s). The
object and image distance s and s’ is related simply by: s = -s’ (plane mirror). This means that the tip of
the lead in the image formed is closer than the eraser because it has the same distance with the object.

Diagram: