Propagation

of Light
Week 3
After going through this lesson, you are
expected to

1. Explain the wave and particle models of

light.
2. Describe reflection and refraction in terms
of the wave and particle models of
light.
3. Explain propagation of light using the
wave and particle models
 Propagation of Light (Reflection and
Refraction) as Explained by the Wave and
Particle Models

Lesson 1
Rene Descartes was the first who
studied and explained the concept
of refraction. He used a spherical
glass filled with water and
sunlight to produce a rainbow. He
explained that refraction brought
about the formation of rainbows.
He then used a prism to observe
the emergence of colors of light
 He also explained the emergence of
colors of light through the concept of
the plenum, the invisible substance that
permeated the universe. He visualized
that the plenum was made of tiny
rotating balls with the same speed. Light
travelled through this plenum. As the
plenum reached the edge of a prism,
the balls changed their rotational speeds
resulting to the emergence of colors

Figure 3. Plenum vortices in the Principles

Sir Isaac Newton
Also studied the emergence of
colors of light through a prism.
He stated that the difference in
refraction was due to the
differences in the mass of the
colors of light. Particles of
matter also exert equal force to
the particles of light. The colors
of light with different mass and
inertia will be deflected at
varying degrees.
When they passed
through an interface of
matter, light particles
with great mass and
inertia are deflected
less when acted upon
by the same force of
matter.
 Dual Property of Light (A Wave and a Particle)

Light can behave both as a

wave and as a particle. As
particles, they travel in
straight lines, thus,
producing shadows when
they hit an obstruction.
It is also the reason why
light bounces off or reflects
off of mirrors
 Refraction is also brought about by
light particles when they traverse
through media or materials of different
refractive indices. It is thought that
opposing forces pull the particles of
light from and into the medium
resulting to changes of their direction.
Click to edit Master title The photo-electric effect is also an
style evidence that light behaves as
particles. When light with enough
energy falls or hits a metal, electrons
are dislodged or knocked off from it to
produce a positive (+) metal surface.
The amount of light energy (known as
photon) contains a fixed amount of
energy or quantum that depends on
the frequency of the light
Light also acts as a wave. It has
the ability to diffract or bend
around an object. Diffraction
involves a change in direction of
waves when they pass from an
opening or around obstacles
along their path. Refraction
happens when light waves
change direction as they travel
through materials of different
refractive indices, say water and
air. Light waves also undergo
interference, the phenomenon
that occurs when two waves meet
while traveling along the same
Reflection and Refraction of Light
Reflection and refraction are
phenomena that are well-explained
by the behaviors of light. When a
source emits light, its dual property
can be observed in different
circumstances.
 Reflection

Light, as waves, spread in

all directions when
emitted. Upon impacting a
smooth, specular surface,
such as a mirror, these
waves bounce off or reflect
according to the arrival
angles. The waves turn
back to front as they
reflect producing a
reversed image
On the otherhand, light can
also arrive at the mirror
surface as a stream of
particles. Since these are
very tiny, a huge number are
involved in a propagating
light beam. Upon arriving a
smooth surface, the
particles bounce off in
different points so their
order in the beam is
reversed resulting to a
reversed image.
 Refraction
A beam of light undergoes refraction when it travels between two
media with different refractive indices. Light, as waves,
changes direction upon passing from first medium to
second medium. A small portion of each angled wavefront
should impact the second medium before the rest of the
front reaches the interface. This part will travel along the
second medium while the rest of the waves is still travelling
in the first medium. Movement will be slower through the
second medium due to higher refractive index. Since the
wavefronts are travelling at different speeds, light will bend
into the second medium, thus, changing the angle of
propagation
Planar, concave, or convex.
Reflection produces different types
of images depending on what kind
of surface light strikes on. Usually,
the study on images is carried out
using mirrors as the reflecting
surface. Mirrors can be palnar,
concave, or convex
Plane mirrors consist of perfectly flat
surface with no distortions and reflect
100% of the light that strikes them
back at a predictable angle. Plane
mirrors produce images that are
same size as the object, laterally
inverted (left becomes right and right
becomes left), upright, virtual, and as
far behind the mirror as the object is
in front. Virtual images are formed
due to imaginary intersection of light
rays and cannot be formed on the
screen
Concave mirrors are known as
converging mirrors because
light is focused at a point as it
strikes and reflects back from
the reflecting surface. Concave
mirrors produce images that
depend on the location of the
object. At several locations
different characteristics of
images can be observed
The images formed can be located somewhere between the center of curvature (C)
and the focal point (F), at C, beyond C, and somewhere on the opposite side of the
mirror. At times, no images are formed by the mirror. Images can be inverted or
upright, smaller, bigger, or the same size as the object, and real or virtual
Light is an electromagnetic radiation that travels through space as
vibrating or oscillating waves. It is composed of alternating electric
and magnetic fields that oscillate perpendicular to each other to
the direction of propagation. It travels at a speed of 3.0x108 𝑚𝑠
through a vacuum.
The electromagnetic spectrum (EM) is composed of waves with
varying frequencies, thus, carrying different amounts of energy.
The figure below shows the EM spectrum and the corresponding
wavelengths of each wave.
The wavelength is inversely proportional to the
amount of energy or frequency it carries. Longer
wavelengths have lower frequencies than those
with shorter wavelengths. The frequency is
directly proportional to the amount of energy
carried by a particular wave. Part of this EM is
the visible light (known as white light) which is
seen by our naked eye. Light wave travels at a
speed of 3.0x108 𝑚𝑠 through a vacuum. The
speed of light varies when it passes and refracts
through different media.
The index of refraction of a material can be
determined by the ratio 𝑐𝑣, where c is the
speed of light in a vacuum while v is the
speed of light in a particular medium. When
light passes through a material with higher
index of refraction, its speed is slower. There
are more matter that scatters light in this
material making light moves slower. Water
scatters more light than air, so light energy
moves slower in water than in air.
Once propagated, the colours of white light vibrate at different
frequencies and can be dispersed when they strike water
droplets suspended in the air or through a prism. White light
is then split into the colours ROY-G-BIV (red, orange, yellow,
green, blue, indigo, and violet).
The speed of each colour of white light depends on the
wavelength of each wave. The waves with longer wavelengths
such as red, orange, and yellow propagate faster than blue,
indigo, and violet which have shorter wavelengths. Due to
their speed, refraction and dispersion are affected when they
enter into a prism or droplet of water in the air. Red is
refracted the least and blue is refracted the most. This is the
reason why red is always seen on top of a rainbow while blue
is always at the bottom.
 Practical Application of Photon
• Why Theory
is red light commonly used in dark room? As you can see in figure
below, red light is the region of the visible light with the longest
wavelength (620-780 nm) and with lowest frequency; hence has the
lowest energy. Because of its low energy, red light is considered as
“safe light” and ideally used in photographic dark rooms. This is
because photosensitive materials used in printing are not
photosensitive to red and does not cause “fogging” in prints which can
be seen as blur or dark veil across the print .
• Why do people get easily sunburned by ultraviolet (UV) light but
not by visible light? Ultraviolet (UV) light has shorter wavelength
and higher frequency and shorter wavelength than visible light as
shown in the figure 3. Since it has high frequency, we can expect
that it also has high energy. Therefore, exposure to UV light can
cause sunburn or even skin cancer (prolonged exposure) faster
than exposure to visible light.
• How do human eyes perceive colors? The
human eye can perceive colors because of
its cones cells. There are three different cone
cells present in the retina of our eyes, each
contains photosensitive pigment to certain
wavelength. The L cone is photosensitive to
red (long wavelength), the M cone is
photosensitive to green (middle wavelength)
and the S cone is photosensitive to blue
(short wavelength). However, the sensitivity
ranges of the three cones sometimes overlap
specially when the light that stimulates them
are near the middle of the visible light. Refer
to figure 4 for the cone sensitivity curve.
Suppose a 550 nm wavelength of light enters
your eye, what color of the light will you
perceive? If your answer is green, you are
certainly correct. If you will try to look at the
figure 4, the light with 550 nm wavelength will
stimulate the green receptor more strongly
than the red receptor and therefore, the your
eyes will perceive green light.
WRITTEN WORK – Week 3
Reflection and Refraction of Light
Refer to the figures to explain how reflection and refraction
are explained by the wave and particle models of light. Fill
up with the appropriate word/s to give meaning to the
paragraphs that follow. Choose from among the words
inside the box to complete each sentence.
Performance Task – Week 3
1. Create and Design a Summary Table that discusses the behavior
of Light in terms of:
a. Reflection
b. Refraction
c. Absorption of Light
d. Dispersion of Light

2. Give real-life scenarios where these behavior can be observed.