P1 Chapter 3: Light

Knowledge organiser
Reflection and refraction of light
How does light travel?
The law of reflection states that: Refraction is when light changes direction when it travels from
Luminous objects are sources of light, e.g., the Sun. normal
one medium (material, such as air or water) to another.
The angle of incidence is equal
Non-luminous objects do not produce their own light, e.g., the Moon. to the angle of reflection. angle of angle of Refraction happens because light travels at different speeds in
incidence reflection
The normal is an imaginary line different materials. normal
transmitted line
When light hits an object it can be at 90º to the mirror. Rays of light will be refracted:
angle of
absorbed, reflected, or transmitted. incident reflected
• towards the normal if they slow incidence i air
absorbed ray ray glass
If an object is: down, such as going from air to glass angle of
mirror refraction r
transparent – most light is transmitted • a
 way from the normal if they speed
translucent – light is scattered reflected up, such as going from water to air.
Images in mirrors are virtual – mirror
opaque – no light is transmitted so a shadow is produced. they look like they are behind
the mirror. Lenses use refraction to spread out or focus light.
Light can travel through gases, some solids and liquids, and Convex (or converging) lenses (like the ones in your eyes) are
completely empty space (a vacuum). shaped to focus the light to a point – called the focal point.
The speed of light in a vacuum is about 300 000 km/s.
candle virtual image converging lens
of candle
Distances in space are measured in light-time. Remember that parallel rays
light-time is a distance (not a measure of time). Whether
a) or not you can see a clear reflected
b) image depends on how
A light-minute is the distance light travels in one minute. smooth the surface is:
A light-year is the distance light travels in one year.

focal point
Colours of light smooth rough
surface surface
A prism refracts different colours of light by different amounts.
specular reflection diffuse scattering
This disperses light into a continuous spectrum of colours.

The primary colours of light are red, How do eyes and cameras work?
green, and blue. blue cyan green lens - focuses the light onto the optic nerve - transfers the
Light entering your eye is Cameras work in the same
Secondary colours are produced when refracted by the lens,
retina, together with the cornea signal from the retina
way as your eye – light passes
white to the brain
any two primary colours are mixed. focusing it on the retina cornea - transparent outer through an opening and a real
magenta yellow
layer of the eye
and creating an inverted image is formed on a screen
Filters subtract colours from white light, red image.Photoreceptors or film.
so that only one colour of light is transmitted. detect the light hitting Digital cameras now have
your retina and send an a charge-coupled device
pupil - the hole where
electrical impulse to object the light goes in (CCD) instead of film – when
Objects appear to be different colours because they reflect some
your brain. light hits a pixel it produces an
colours of light and absorb others. iris - the coloured part of the
eye, a muscle that controls electrical charge.
Black objects absorb all colours and white objects reflect all colours. retina - where the image forms, contains
the size of the pupil
light-sensitive cells that produce a signal

Key Words
Make sure you can write a definition for these key terms. absorb angle of incidence angle of reflection aperture camera charge-coupled device continuous converging convex cornea diffuse scattering
dispersion emit eye filter focal point focus image incident ray inverted iris law of reflection lens light-time luminous medium non-luminous normal opaque optic nerve photoreceptors pixel
plane primary colour prism pupil ray real image reflect reflected ray refraction retina secondary colour source spectrum specular reflection translucent transmit transparent virtual image