PHYSICS

CHAPTER 5

LIGHT ENERGY

INTRODUCTION

Light is electromagnetic radiation visible to the human eye, consisting of photons that behave
as both particles and waves. It includes visible and invisible wavelengths like infrared and
ultraviolet, and is crucial for vision, energy, and communication.

Speed of light is extraordinary large at 3×108 m/s in vacuum or air.

When light rays fall on a polished mirror , they are reflected back and form an image.

Passage of light from one transparent medium to another is called refraction of light. Prism
and lenses work on the principle of refraction of light.

REFRACTION OF LIGHT

Bending of a ray of light incident obliquely at the boundary of two transparent media is called
the refraction of light.

● Terms related to refraction of light

1. Incident ray: the ray travelling in first medium and falling on the surface separating
the two media is called the incident ray.

2.. Point of incidence: the point at which the incident ray enters the second medium is
called the point of incidence.

3. Refracted ray: the rate travelling in the second medium after undergoing refraction
is called the refracted ray.

4. Normal: a line drawn at the point of incident and perpendicular to the surface
separating two media is called the normal.

5. Angle of incidence: the angle subtended by the incident ray from the normal is
called the angle of incidence.

6. Angle of refraction: the angle subtended by the refracted ray from the normal is
called the angle of refraction .
● Refraction and speed of light

In vacuum and air light travels with a constant speed of 3×108 m/s. The speed of light is
different for the different media. For example speed of light in water is 2.25×108 m/s
and that in glass is 2×108 m/s.

A medium in which light travels faster is called optically rarer medium. On the other
hand, a medium in which light travels slower is called optically denser medium.

1. A ray of light traveling from an optically rarer medium to an optically denser

medium bends towards the normal on refraction. It means that when a light ray
obliquely passes from an optically rarer medium to an optically denser medium
then the angle of refraction is less than the angle of incidence.
2. A ray of light traveling from an optically denser medium to an optically rarer
medium bends away from the normal on the refraction. It means that when a
light ray obliquely passes from an optically denser medium to an optically rarer
medium then the angle of refraction is greater than the angle of incidence.

● Refractive index of a medium

The refractive index of a medium is defined as the ratio of speed of light in vacuum or
year to the speed of light in the given medium.

Refractive index is a pure ratio of two similar quantities and hence it has no units. The
refractive index is a medium has a value of 1 or greater than 1.
● Laws of refraction

There are two basic laws of refraction .

1. The incident ray, the refracted Ray and the normal, drawn on the refracting
surface at the point of incidence, lie in the same plane.
2. For a given pair of media, for all the values of angle of incidence, the ratio of
the sine of the angle of incidence and the sine of angle of refraction is a
constant. The second law of refraction is also known as the snell’s law.

Some examples of refraction of light

1. A pencil partly immersed in water in a glass tumbler appears to be bent

at the interface of air and water.
2. A tank or a pond or a bucket containing water appears to be shallower
than its actual depth.
3. A lemon kept in water taken in a glass tumbler appears to be bigger
than its actual size when viewed from the sides.
4. When light rays pass through the atmosphere they undergo refraction
while passing from one year layer to another air layer of different optical
densities. This phenomenon is known as atmospheric refraction.
 ● Refraction through glass slab

A glass slab is a rectangular block of glass through which light can be refracted. The
path of a light ray can be traced as it gets refracted through glass slab.

Features of refraction through glass slab

1. The emergent ray is parallel to the incident ray.

2. The angle of emergency is equal to the angle of incidence.
3. The ray on emergence is laterally displaced from its original path.

SPHERICAL MIRRORS

A spherical mirror is a part of a hollow sphere of a glass and it has a polished surface on one
of its faces.

If the outer surface of the mirror is polished and the inner surface behaves as the reflecting
surface it is called a concave mirror.

If the inner surface of the mirror is polished and the outer surface behaves as the reflecting
surface it is called a convex mirror.

● Terms related to the spherical mirrors

1. Pole: The geometrical center of the spherical mirror, represented by the letter P
2. Center of curvature: The center of the imaginary sphere of which the mirror is
a part, represented by the letter C
3. Principal axis: The straight line that passes through the pole and the center of
curvature, and is normal to the mirror at the pole
4. Principal focus: The point on the principal axis where reflected light rays pass
when incident light rays travel parallel to the principal axis, represented by the
letter F
5. Focal length: The distance between the pole and the principal focus,
represented by the letter f.

Thus, PE=f

6. Radius of curvature: The radius of the sphere of which the mirror is a part,
represented by the letter R.

Thus, R=PC

7. Aperture: The diameter of the reflecting surface of the spherical mirror.

 Relation between focal length and radius of curvature

It is found that the principal focus F of a mirror lies exactly between midway its pole
and centre of curvature C.

Thus, PF=FC

It means, for a spherical mirror, the radius of curvature is equal to twice its focal length.

R= PC = PF+ FC=PF + PF = 2PF = 2f

● Images formed by a mirror

When light rays starting from a point object, after refraction from a mirror, meet or
appear to meet at a point is called the image of the given object.

Images formed by mirror are of two types :-

● Real images
● Virtual images

● Image formation by spherical mirror

To know the position, nature and size of the image of an object placed in the front of a
spherical mirror we draw a ray diagram.

● For drawing a ray diagram, we must take at least two light rays whose path can
be traced after reflection.
● The object is kept on the left side of the reflecting surface of the mirror.
● An object is kept on the principle axis perpendicular to the axis with its foot just
touching the principle axis.
● Ray used in ray diagrams

Ray diagrams for image formation by a spherical mirror can be conveniently drawn
using certain rays which are illustrated below.

● A ray travelling parallel to the principal axis of a concave mirror passes through
the principal focus after reflection.
● In case of a convex mirror the reflected ray appears to diverge from the
principal focus of the mirror.
● A ray passing through the principal focus of a concave mirror gets reflected
parallel to its principal axis.
● For a convex mirror the ray travelling in the direction of the principal focus
becomes parallel to the principal axis after reflection.
● A ray passing through the centre of curvature gets reflected back along the
same path without any deviation in the concave and convex mirror both.
● A ray incident at the pole of the mirror gets reflected such that the angle of
incident and the angle of reflection are equal but they lie on opposite sides of
the principal axis.

● Real images formed by a concave mirror

The nature, position and size of the image formed by a concave mirror depends on the
position of the object placed in front of it.

A concave mirror forms a real image when the object is placed at a distance from the
mirror that is less than the focal point. The image is inverted and can be projected onto
a sheet of paper because light rays converge at the image location.

Both real and virtual images are formed by the concave mirror. When the object is
placed very close to the mirror, a virtual and magnified image is formed. When the
distance between the objects in the mirror is increased, the size of the image gets
diminished and a real image is formed.

The real image of a concave mirror can be projected on the screen. The focal point and
the centre of curvature of a concave mirror lie in front of the mirror.
USES OF SPHERICAL MIRRORS

● Uses of concave mirror

Uses of concave mirror are given as follows:-

● Concave mirror are used as make-up mirrors at beauty parlour and shaving
mirrors
● They are used as reflector in torches and headlights of vehicles and in
projectors.
● They are used by doctors to focus light on a specified organ, especially ENT
specialists.
● Concave mirror are used in solar cooker and solar furnaces was to focus the
sun radiation at a place.

● Uses of convex mirror

Uses of convex mirrors are given as follows:-

● Convex mirrors are used as rear view mirrors in vehicles.

● They are used in street lights as reflectors so as to diverge the light over a
larger area.

● Refraction through a prism

A prism is a transparent material bounded by two plane rectangular refracting surface

inclined at an angle which is called the angle of prism.

When a light ray passes through a prism, it refracts and emerges out of the prism. the
emergent ray is deviated from the direction of the incident ray.

As a result of refraction through a prism the light ray is deviated towards the base of
the prism.

● Dispersion of light by a prism

 When a Narrow beam of white light passes through a prism, it splits up into the seven
colours. The process of splitting of white light into 7 constituent colours is known as
the dispersion of light. The band of 7 colours is called the spectrum.

Dispersion of light occurs because sunlight is a mixture of seven colours. The red
colour ray is deviated the least and the violet colour ray is deviated the most.

The seven colours formed by the refraction are listed below:-

● Violet
● Indigo
● Blue
● Green
● Yellow
● Orange
● Red

● Recombination of seven constituent colours of white light spectrum.

The seven-coloured rays obtained in the spectrum of white light produced by glass
prism can be recombined into white light again if these coloured rays are made to pass
through another prism which is identical to the first prism but is placed in an inverted
position.

When white light passes through a prism it is split up into the seven colours. by the use
of the second identical prism set in an inverted position the seven colours of white
light recombine so as to form white light again.