MELC 9: Explain various light phenomena such as:

a. Your reflection on the concave and convex sides of a spoon looks different
b. Mirages
c. Light from a red laser passes more easily though red cellophane than green
cellophane
d. Clothing of certain colors appear different in artificial light and in sunlight
e. Haloes, sundogs, primary rainbows, secondary rainbows, and
supernumerary bows
f. Why clouds are usually white and rainclouds dark
g. Why the sky is blue and sunsets are reddish

Various Light Phenomena

This is a review to help you link the current lesson with the previous one.

1. Constructive interference occurs if the amplitudes of the waves combine and form bigger
amplitude.

2. Destructive interference occurs if the waves are out of phase such that one wave traveled
an extra distance father, because the waves are not aligned.

3. Coherent sources occur when emissions come from a single light source, having a constant
phase relationship.

4. Incoherent sources occur when emissions from the sources do not maintain a constant
phase relationship with each other over time.

5. Monochromatic light means the light source consists of a single wavelength only.

6. Diffraction is the spreading of light when it comes up to a hole or other barrier.

7. Dispersion is the separation of visible light into its different colors.

8. Angle of deviation is the amount of overall refraction caused by the passage of a light ray
through a prism.

9. Scattering of light is the phenomenon in which light rays get deviated from its straight path
on striking an obstacle.

10. Tyndall effect is the phenomenon of scattering of light by colloidal particles.

11. Rayleigh scattering refers to the scattering of light off of the molecules of the air

Ray Diagram of Concave Mirrors in a Spoon

In the center of the sphere from which the mirror was sliced is known as the center of curvature
and is denoted by the letter C in the diagram below. The point on the mirror's surface where the
principal axis meets the mirror is known as the vertex and is denoted by the letter A in the diagram
below. The vertex is the geometric center of the mirror. Midway between the vertex and the center
of curvature is a point known as the focal point; the focal point is denoted by the letter F in the
diagram below. The distance from the vertex to the center of curvature is known as the radius of
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curvature (represented by R). The radius of curvature is the radius of the sphere from which the
mirror was cut. Finally, the distance from the mirror to the focal point is known as the focal length
(represented by f).
Since the focal point is the midpoint of the line segment adjoining the vertex and the center of
curvature, the focal length would be one-half the radius of curvature.

Ray Diagram of Convex Mirrors in a Spoon

The diagram at the right depicts a convex mirror. In Lesson 3, a convex mirror was described as a
portion of a sphere that had been sliced away. If the outside of the sphere is silvered such that it
can reflect light, then the mirror is said to be convex. The center of that original sphere is known
as the center of curvature (C) and the line that passes from the mirror's surface through the
sphere's center is known as the principal axis. The mirror has a focal point (F) that is located along
the principal axis, midway between the mirror's surface and the center of curvature. Note that the
center of curvature and the focal point are located on the side of the mirror opposite the object -
behind the mirror. Since the focal point is located behind the convex mirror, such a mirror is said
to have a negative focal length value.
A convex mirror is sometimes referred to as a diverging mirror due to the fact that incident light
originating from the same point and will reflect off the mirror surface and diverge. The diagram at
the right shows four incident rays originating from a point and incident towards a convex mirror.
These four rays will each reflect according to the law of reflection. After reflection, the light rays
diverge; subsequently they will never intersect on the object side of the mirror. For this reason,
convex mirrors produce virtual images that are located somewhere behind the mirror.
The image in the diagram above is a virtual image. Light does not actually pass through the image
location. It only appears to observers as though all the reflected light from each part of the object
is diverging from this virtual image location. The fact that all the reflected light from the object
appears to diverge from this location in space means that any observer would view a replica or
reproduction when sighting along a line at this location.

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Mirages: Refraction in a Non-Uniform Medium
A mirage is an optical phenomenon that creates the illusion of water and results from the refraction
of light through a non-uniform medium. Mirages are most commonly observed on sunny days
when driving down a roadway. As you drive down the roadway, there appears to be a puddle of
water on the road several yards (maybe one-hundred yards) in front of the car. Of course, when
you arrive at the perceived location of the puddle, you recognize that the puddle is not there.
Instead, the puddle of water appears to be another one-hundred yards in front of you. You could
carefully match the perceived location of the water to a roadside object; but when you arrive at
that object, the puddle of water is still not on the roadway. The appearance of the water is simply
an illusion.
Mirages occur on sunny days. The role of the sun is to heat the roadway to high temperatures.
This heated roadway in turn heats the surrounding air, keeping the air just above the roadway at
higher temperatures than that day's average air temperature. Hot air tends to be less optically
dense than cooler air. As such, a non-uniform medium has been created by the heating of the
roadway and the air just above it.
While light will travel in a straight line through a uniform medium, it will refract when traveling
through a non-uniform medium. If a driver looks down at the roadway at a very low angle (that is,
at a position nearly one hundred yards away), light from objects above the roadway will follow a
curved path to the driver's eye as shown in the diagram below.

So when you experience this sunny day phenomenon, your mind must quickly make sense of how
you can look downward at the roadway and see an object located above the road. In the process
of making sense of this event, your mind draws upon past experiences. Searching the database of
stored experiences, your mind is interested in an explanation of why the eye can sight downward
at a surface and see an object that is located above the surface. In the process of searching, it
comes up with three possible explanations based upon past experiences. Your mind subtly
ponders these three options.
1. There is a mirror on the road. Someone must have for some reason placed a mirror on the
road. The mirror is reflecting light and that is why I see an image of the oncoming truck
when I look downward at the road.
2. There is a glass window on the road. My gosh, do you believe it! Someone has left a glass
window on the road. The glass window is reflecting light and that is why I see an image of
the oncoming truck when I look downward at the road.
3. There is water on the road. It must have rained last night and there is a puddle of water left
on the road. The water is reflecting light and that is why I see an image of the oncoming
truck when I look downward at the road.

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Of the three possible explanations of the image of the truck, only one makes a lot of sense to the
mind - there is water on the road. After all, while both glass windows and mirrors can reflect light,
nowhere in your mind's database of past experiences is there an account of a mirror or glass
window being seen on a roadway. Yet there are plenty of times that a water puddle has been
observed to be present on a roadway. Smart person that you are, you then conclude that there is
a puddle of water on the road that is causing you to see objects located above the road when you
sight downward at the road. The illusion is complete.

Red and Green Cellophanes: Can Red Light Pass Through?

In Activity 1.2., you should see the following observations when red light shines at a white paper
with red and green dots: (1) The white paper appears red; (2) The red dots on the paper cannot be
seen; and (3) The green dots appear black. Let’s understand why these happens and answer the
question, “why does light from a red laser passes more easily though red cellophane than green
cellophane?”

Normal Light Red Light

RED GREEN BLACK

The white paper appears red because the color white is a reflection of all wavelengths of light
together, and therefore is able to reflect the red light transmitted onto it, and also no other
wavelengths of light are visible in the darkened room.
The red dots cannot be seen because they are reflecting the same wavelength of light that is
being transmitted onto them. Since the red light is the only light in the room, when it hits the red
dots on the white paper the only wavelength of light that is reflected back is red. There is no
contrast between two different colors caused by multiple wavelengths of light so the colors cannot
be distinguished from one another.
The green dots appear black in the red light because they absorb the red light and have no
other wavelength of light to reflect. A green dot appears green in white light because when the light

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hits it, it absorbs all wavelengths except for green, which is reflected. The color black occurs when
all wavelengths of light that hit an object are absorbed.

Green cellophane will only allow green light to pass through it. The
cellophane absorbs other colors of light.
For example, green light will not pass through red cellophane. The green light is
absorbed by the red cellophane. However, green light will pass through green
cellophane.
As a general rule each color filter (e.g. glass or cellophane) will only allow light of
its own color to pass through.

Rainbows: Bringing Colors in the Atmosphere

Rainbows result from refraction of sunlight in falling water droplets plus reflection of the light
from the back of the droplet.

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If during a rain shower you can see the shadow of your own head, then you are in position to see
a rainbow if conditions are favorable. The rainbow forms a circular arc around the anti-solar
point, which is located at the shadow of your head. You can search for the shadow of your head
to find a rainbow in a waterfall, or even in the spray from a hose or sprinkler.
The primary rainbow forms between about 40° and 42° from the antisolar point. The light path
involves refraction and a single reflection inside the water droplet. If the drops are large, 1
millimeter or more in diameter, red, green, and violet are bright but there is little blue. Such large
droplets are suggested by the rainbow at right.

As the droplets get smaller, red weakens. In fine mist, all colors except violet may disappear. Even
finer fog droplets, smaller than 0.05 mm, produce the white rainbow or fog bow. The secondary
rainbow involves two reflections inside the falling droplets.
Rainbows are not seen in midday since the whole 42° circle is below the horizon at most latitudes.
So rainbows tend to be seen most in the later afternoon when a thundershower has passed and
the sun from the west is illuminating the receding edge of an eastwardly moving raincloud. It is
possible to see the entire circle of the rainbow from an airplane since there can be falling droplets
both above and below you.

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The secondary rainbow is about 10° further out from the antisolar point than the primary bow, is
about twice as wide, and has its colors reversed.

Colors of the Clouds and the Sky

In a cloud sunlight is scattered equally, meaning that the sunlight continues to remain white and
gives clouds their distinctive white appearance.
Clouds are white because light from the Sun is white. As light passes through a cloud, it interacts
with the water droplets, which are much bigger than the atmospheric particles that exist in the
sky.
When sunlight reaches an atmospheric particle in the sky, blue light is scattered away more
strongly than other colors, giving the impression that the sky is blue.
But in a cloud, sunlight is scattered by much larger water droplets. These scatter all colors almost
equally meaning that the sunlight continues to remain white and so making the clouds appear
white against the background of the blue sky.

Cloud droplets scatter all wavelengths of visible light

creating the appearance of white clouds.
Cloud bases are often grey as a result of the same scattering that makes them white. When light
is scattered in a cloud it usually is sent back upwards, or out to the sides of the cloud, making
the tops and sides of the cloud whiter than the base which receives less light.
This is more prominent in rain clouds because the cloud droplets are bigger, thus scattering more
light. This means that even less light from the Sun reaches the bottom of the cloud, giving rain
clouds their intimidating appearance.
Because the tops of clouds have a constant source of white light, they are always white! If you are
ever on a plane, look out the window when you are above the clouds, you will see that the tops of
all the clouds will be a brilliant white.
At sunrise or sunset, clouds can take on a red or orange color. This is because during sunrise and
sunset, the Sun is very low in the sky and so light has to travel through more of the atmosphere.
As a result more of the blue light is scattered and deflected away allowing more red and yellow
light to reach the Earth.
Rayleigh scattering refers to the scattering of light off of the molecules of the air, and can be
extended to scattering from particles up to about a tenth of the wavelength of the light. It is
Rayleigh scattering off the molecules of the air which gives us the blue sky.

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SUMMARY
1. A spoon acts as a mirror, but with a curve in it. The front of the spoon is a concave surface
giving off an inverted image while the back is a convex surface giving off an upright image.
A diagram showing this phenomenon is called a ray diagram.

2. A mirage is an optical phenomenon that creates the illusion of water and results from the
refraction of light through a non-uniform medium.

3. Green cellophane will only allow green light to pass through it; a red one will only allow
red light to pass. The cellophane absorbs other colors of light. That is why a red light can
easily pass through a red cellophane compared to a green cellophane

4. Rainbows result from refraction of sunlight in falling water droplets plus reflection of the
light from the back of the droplet. Light enters the water droplet and refracts. It then
reflects as it reaches the inner surface of the droplet and refracts as it goes outside the
droplet.

5. The primary rainbow forms between about 40° and 42° from the antisolar point.

6. The secondary rainbow is about 10° further out from the antisolar point than the primary
bow, is about twice as wide, and has its colors reversed.

7. Cloud scatters sunlight and is made by large water droplets. These scatter all colors almost
equally meaning that the sunlight continues to remain white.

8. Rain clouds scatters more sunlight because they have bigger water droplets. This means
that less light from the Sun reaches the bottom of the cloud, giving a gray appearance.

9. During sunrise and sunset, the Sun is very low in the sky and so light has to travel through
more of the atmosphere. As a result, more of the blue light is scattered and deflected away
allowing more red and yellow light to reach the Earth. This is called Rayleigh scattering.

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REVIEW YOUR KNOWLEDGE:

1. Rain clouds are mostly gray because:

A. it mostly absorbs all colors except gray
B. it reflects less light as it prepares to rain
C. it reflects more light due to larger water molecules
D. it does not scatter light and focuses it on the atmosphere
2. Which of the following is true about rainbows?
i. Secondary rainbows occur in the order ROYGBIV.
ii. Purple can be seen in primary rainbows.
A. i only
B. ii only
C. both i and ii
D. neither i and ii
3. Blue skies occur during the day due to:
A. Diffraction
B. Mie scattering
C. Rayleigh scattering
D. Tyndall Effect
4. The following correctly explains light passing through a cellophane except:
A. As white light passes through red cellophane, the cellophane absorbs all colors
except red.
B. Green light can’t easily pass through green cellophane because it shows the same
color.
C. A red light passing through red cellophane will simply go through since they have
the same color.
D. Red light can’t easily pass through green cellophane since the collophane absorbs
the red light.
5. Which of the following observations can be seen when you shine a red light in a white
paper with red and green dots?
i. White paper appears white.
ii. Red dots can be still be seen.
iii. Green dots appear black.
A. i only
B. iii only
C. i and iii
D. ii and iii
6. The following describes a mirage as a light phenomenon except:
A. Mirages form a circular arc around the anti-solar point, which is located at the
shadow of your head.
B. An optical phenomenon that results from the refraction of light through a non-
uniform medium is called a mirage.
C. If a driver looks down at the roadway at a very low angle, light from objects above the
roadway will follow a curved path causing a mirage.
D. A mirage makes it seem there is a puddle of water on the road that is causing you to
see objects located above the road.
7. Which of the following shows the correct sequence of rainbow formation?
A. Refract – Reflect – Refract
B. Refract – Refract – Reflect
C. Reflect – Reflect – Refract
D. Reflect – Refract – Refract

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8. When illustrating a ray diagram, you can draw the mirrored image by using at least ___.
A. 4 lines
B. 3 lines
C. 2 lines
D. 1 line

9. What principle is responsible when we see yellow to red skies in the early morning or late
afternoon?
A. Diffraction
B. Dispersion
C. Interference
D. Scattering
10. A secondary rainbow is ___ the primary rainbow and is ___ that the primary.
A. above . . . narrower
B. above . . . wider
C. below . . . narrower
D. below . . . wider
For numbers 11 to 15, use the following choices:

A. Concave side C. True

B. Convex side D. False
11. A spoon is a double mirror

12. The reflection in a spoon changes as you go near to it.

13. Both sides of a spoon can give different image orientations.

14. This side of the spoon gives you an upright reflected image.

15. This side of the spoon gives you an inverted reflected image.

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