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Chapter 11 Light Shadow and

Reflection

Table of Contents
Introduction
Sources of Light
Transparent/Translucent/Opaque
Formation of shadows
A Pin-Hole Camera
Natural Pin-hole Camera
Rectilinear Propagation of Light
Reflection of Light

WHAT IS LIGHT?

The devices such as mobile phones,

microwave ovens, remote control and
scanning machine use electromagnetic
radiations(radio waves, microwaves, infrared
waves and X-rays) to work.
Light is a form of energy as well as an
electromagnetic wave that can be detected.
In a vacuum, light travels in a straight-line
path at the speed of 3 x 108m. The sunlight
takes 8 minutes and 32 seconds to reach the
earth.

Importance of Light

Light is the main source of energy for animals

and plants.
The sunlight provides natural warmth that
creates suitable conditions for the growth
and development of life.
The green plants required sunlight to make
their food by the process of photosynthesis.
The natural colour of light is white, but this
white light has seven different colours: violet,
indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red.
The objects absorb specific colours of light
and reflect the other colours. This reflected
colour declare the colour of the object. For
example, grass cannot absorb the green
colour. So, the green colour is reflected that
comes to our eyes.

Sources of Light

The objects that emit light are called sources of

light. There are two sources of light: natural and
man-made. For example, the sun, stars and
fireflies are natural sources(Figure 1 a), while an
electric bulb, a burning lamp and tube light are
man-made sources of light(Figure 1 b).

Figure 1: Sources of light: a) Firefly(natural

source; b) Candle(man-made source) 
 
The objects that become hot when they emit
light are called hot sources of light. For
example, the sun, a burning candle or lamp and
an electric bulb, etc(Figure 2).

Figure 2: Hot source of light: the sun.

 
The objects that emit light without becoming
hot are called cold sources of light. For
example, fireflies(Figure 3).

Figure 3: Cold source of light: firefly.

 
Bioluminescence: A natural phenomenon of
emitting light by the objects. In
bioluminescence, the objects covert chemical
energy into light energy. Some of the examples
are phytoplankton, fireflies, jellyfish and algae,
etc.
Luminous objects: The objects that have their
own light. For example, the sun, stars and
torch, etc.
Non-luminous objects: The objects that do not
produce their own light. For example, tables,
chairs and books, etc.
 

Transparent/Translucent/Opaque

If we are able to see clearly through

transparent an object, it is said to be
transparent like water, glass

If we are able to see not clearly

Translucent through an object, it is said to be
translucent like butter paper

If we cannot see through an object

opaque at all, it is an opaque object like
wood

Formation of shadows

When an opaque object is placed in path of

light, a dark portion is formed on the opposite
side of object on the screen. This dark portion is
shadow.
(1) The size of shadow depends on the distance
of source of light and on the angle at which the
light rays fall on the object.
(2) If the source of light is closer to the object, a
larger shadow is formed than when the source
of light is far from the object.
(3) The shadow can be seen only on a screen.
The ground, walls of the rooms, a building, or
other such surfaces act as a screen for the
shadows you observe in everyday life
(4) Shadows sometimes gives lot of information
about the object.
(5) Shadows are in black in colour and this is
not changed by the colour of the opaque
objects. So a red and yellow rose will have
same black shadows.

Nature of a Shadow
The shadow is categorised into two parts based
on the brightness of the dark patches:-
i. Umbra: It is the darkest part of the shadow
present in the middle of it, which forms due to
the absence of light.
ii. Penumbra: It is the faintest part of the
shadow present at the corners of it. It is formed
when the light is not completely blocked(Figure
7).

 Figure 7: Umbra and Penumbra

 
Characteristics of a Shadow
An opaque screen is required to form a
shadow. If there is no screen then no shadow
will form.
The colour of the shadow is always black.
A shadow casts the shape of the opaque
object only.

The size of the shadow varies according to the

presence of light coming from the different
angles:-
If the distance between the source of light
and an opaque object is decreased then the
size of the shadow forms large dark patches.
If the distance between the source of light
and an opaque object is increased then the
shadow is small.
If the distance between the object and the
screen is decreased then the shadow is
small.
If the distance between the object and the
screen is increased then the shadow is large.

 
ECLIPSES
The eclipses are formed on the basis of
rectilinear propagation. They are shadows
formed naturally when the sun, moon and earth
aligned in a straight line.
Solar Eclipse
When the sun, moon and earth align in a
straight line and the moon falls between the
sun and the earth casts its shadow on earth
then this phenomenon is known as solar
eclipse.
During a solar eclipse, the dark side of the
moon faces the earth. This phenomenon
takes place on a new moon day.
The moon’s shadow forms a total solar
eclipse on the region of the earth where the
umbra of the moon falls on it, while the partial
solar eclipse takes place on the regions
where the penumbra of the moon’s shadow
falls(Figure 8).

                

Figure 8: Solar Eclipse.

 
Do not look directly to the sun during a solar
eclipse because this will damage your eyes
permanently. However, if you really want to look
at the sun then you should use eye filters such
as X-ray reports.
 
LUNAR ECLIPSE
When the sun, moon and earth align in a
straight line and the earth is present in the
middle of the sun and the moon, casting its
shadow on the moon then this phenomenon
is called a lunar eclipse.
The total lunar eclipse is formed in the
regions of the moon where the earth’ umbra
falls, whereas the partial lunar eclipse is
formed where the earth’s penumbra
falls(Figure 9).

Figure 9: Lunar Eclipse

A Pin-Hole Camera

How to prepare it
(1) Take two boxes so that one can slide into
another with no gap in between them. Cut open
one side of each box.
(2) On the opposite face of the larger box, make
a small hole in the middle.
(3) In the smaller box, cut out from the middle a
square with a side of about 5 to 6 cm.
(4) Cover this open square in the box with
tracing paper (translucent screen).
(5) Slide the smaller box inside the larger one
with the hole, in such a way that the side with
the tracing paper is inside
Now it is ready to use
How to use it
(1) Hold the pin hole camera look through the
open face of the smaller box. You should use a
piece of black cloth to cover your head and the
pinhole camera.
(2) Now focus on the object you want to capture
in the camera.Make sure that the objects you
wish to look at through your pinhole camera are
in bright sun shine.
(3) Move the smaller box forward or backward
till you get a picture on the tracing paper pasted
at the other end

How the Images looks like pin-hole camera?

Upside down (inverted) images are formed.
Image in a pin hole camera is real , inverted and
smaller in size.

A pinhole camera that is used to capture the

images of the sun is called solargraphy.
Natural Pin-hole Camera

When we pass under a tree covered with large

number of leaves, we notice that small patches
of sun light under it. These circular images are,
in fact, pin hole images of the Sun. The gaps
between the leaves, act as the pin holes. These
gaps are all kinds of irregular shapes, but, we
can see circular images of the Sun. This is
called Natural Pin-Hole Camera
Rectilinear Propagation of Light

The property by which the light travels in a

straight line is called rectilinear propagation
of light.
The path travelled by a light in a straight line
is identified with the help of a ray of light. The
arrow head shows the direction of light(Figure
5 a).
A narrow group of light rays called a
beam(Figure 5 b).
When beam of light moving away from each
other is called divergent rays(Figure 5 c).
When beam of light moving towards each
other and meet at a common point then it is
called convergent rays(Figure 5 d).

Figure 5: Property of light.

 
Producing a Beam of Light
We produce a beam of light by using a light
box.
The light box is composed of a cardboard
box with a tiny hole on one of its faces and
an electric bulb.
When an electric bulb glows, the light comes
out of the hole producing a beam of light.

 
Mirror

We all have seen the plane mirror. It is very

commonly used in our life. We used that in the
car, dressing room etc. Plane mirror are formed
by layering molten aluminium or silver onto the
back of a sheet of glass inside a vacuum

Reflection of Light

We see our face in the Mirror. This is possible

through the phenomenon Reflection of light.
Basically Light rays reflected from parts of our
body fall on mirror and are reflected back. When
these reflected rays reach our eyes (reflected on
our retina), we can see the image in the mirror.
So reflection of light is changing the direction of
the light.
Image formation by Plane Mirror
A plane mirror reflects the light that falls on it.
The beam of light that falls on the mirror is
called incident ray, while the light that reflects
called the reflected ray.
The angle of incident ray equals to the angle
of the reflected ray.
The incident ray, reflected ray and normal ray
lies at the common point of the mirror(Figure
11).
A plane mirror has a property of lateral
inversion in which the image formed in the
mirror has an opposite side. For example,
when you see your image in the mirror your
right hand becomes left and your left hand
becomes right.
The image formed is erect, same size and
laterally inverted. It retains the same colour
as the object

Lateral Inversion
The right side of the object appears to be the
left side of its image and vice-versa

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Notes
Light Shadow and Reflection Class 6 Notes

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Reflection

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Reflection
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Reflection
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Reflection
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and Reflection
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Class 6 Maths

Class 6 Science

Practice Question
1 3
Question 1 What is 2 + 4 ?
5
A) 4
1
B) 4

C)1
4
D) 5

Question 2 Pinhole camera produces an ?

A)An erect and small image

B)an Inverted and small image

C)An inverted and enlarged image

D)None of the above

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