Light and Heat

Science 5B Book, Page 73-78

 Refraction of Light
Light travels in straight lines.
However, when light travels from one medium to
another, for example, from air to water, it bends.
The bending of light at the boundary of the two
media is known as refraction.
Refraction occurs because the speed of light
changes as it enters a different medium.
 How Does A Lens Work?
Light also bends when it passes through a
lens. A lens is a carefully moulded piece
of transparent material, such as glass or
plastic, which refracts light to form an
image.
When we look through a lens, we
observe that the image of an object gets
distorted. This is because light undergoes
refraction as it travels from air to glass,
and back to air again.
Lenses are usually used to magnify or
reduce the size of the images of objects.
They are used in :
• Magnifying glasses
• Microscopes
• Spectacles
• Cameras
• Telescopes
 Dispersion of Light through A Prism
White light is actually made up of many different colors. We
can prove this by shining white light through a prism. A prism is
a transparent plastic or glass object, with smooth flat sides,
that can refract light.
White light is refracted twice as it passes through a prism –
once, when it travels from air to the prism, and a second time
when it travels from the prism to air. The light that comes out
of the prism is no longer white, but it is broken up into the
colors of a rainbow. This breaking up of white light into its
component colors is known as dispersion.
Dispersion occurs because light of different colours travel at
different speed.
Dispersion of Light through Water Droplets

Water droplets in the air can act as

tiny prisms. The droplets can be
from the rain, the mist of a
waterfall, or a fine spray of water
from garden hose. They refract the
sunlight the same way a prism
does, and produce rainbows.
Transfer of Heat