LIGHT AND THE EMR SPECTRUM Physical Science 20

THE BEHAVIOR OF LIGHT

History of Light
Plato (428 BC - 348 BC) thought that light consisted of streams of particles
emitted from the eyes.
Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) thought the streams were emitted in the other
direction.
Newton (1642 - 1727) proposed that light consisted of particles
Huygens (1629 - 1695) proposed the idea that light does not consist of
particles but rather of waves.
Einstein, Planck, Broglie, and Bohr (20th century) proposed and confirmed that
all particles also have a wave nature (and vice versa). This is called wave-
particle duality.
SOURCES OF LIGHT
Objects can be seen only when a source of light is present. There is
a difference between luminous bodies, such as stars, incandescent
and fluorescent lamps, which emit light, and illuminated bodies
such as the trees, grass and the moon, which reflect light.
Most visible objects are illuminated by a luminous source and
are seen by light, which they reflect.
 TRANSMISSION AND ABSORPTION OF LIGHT
There are three different classes of absorption:

Transparent - Materials such as glass, quartz, and air allow the passage of
light in straight lines.

Translucent - Materials such as paper and frosted glass allow light to pass
through but in different directions so that one cannot see objects through
them.

Opaque - Materials such as wood, brick and metals allow no light to pass
through.
DISPERSION OF LIGHT
When light is passed through transparent crystals brilliant colours of
light are produced. At first this phenomenon was attributed to the
crystal but Newton was able to show that these colours where already
present in light.
If a beam of white light is allowed to pass through a prism the
components of light are refracted at various amounts to produce a
series of colours called a spectrum. This is called dispersion.
THE ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM
The electromagnetic spectrum represents the range of energy from
low energy, low frequency radio waves with long wavelengths
up to high energy, high frequency gamma waves with small
wavelengths.
EMR SPECTRUM
Visible Light is only a small portion of this spectrum. This is the only
part of this energy range that our eyes can detect. What we see is
a rainbow of colors.
FREQUENCY RANGES OF VISIBLE LIGHT
Red light has a frequency of roughly 4.3 x 1014 H, and a wavelength of
about 700nm (7.0 x 107 m)

Violet light at the other end, has nearly double the frequency, 7.5 x 10 14

Hz, and just over half the wavelength, 400 nm (4.0 x 107 m)
The radiation to which our eyes are most sensitive has a
wavelength near the middle of this range, at about 550
nm, in the yellow-green region of the the spectrum.
This is a wavelength in the range of wavelengths at which the sun
emits most of its electromagnetic energy – this is not a coincidence.

Human eyes have evolved to take greatest advantage of the

available light.
SEEING COLORS
The colors that we see in objects are the colors that are
being reflected. All other colors are absorbed.
Ex: a red t-shirt appears red because red light is reflected
and other colors are absorbed.

When all colors are being reflected we see white light

(white isn’t really a color)
THE SPEED OF LIGHT
C = 𝜆𝑓
We already know that:
-The frequency (f) of a wave is the number of waves to cross a
point in 1 second (units are Hz)

- 𝜆 is the wavelength – the distance from crest to crest on a wave

 THE SPEED OF LIGHT
The product of wavelength and frequency always equals
the speed of light (C)

C = 𝜆𝑓

C is a constant value of 3.00 x 108 m/s

∆𝑑
Note that for speed of light questions, it would be helpful to remember that v =
∆𝑡
It is also important to know that 1 light year = the distance light travels in 1 year = 9.46 x 1015 m
EXAMPLE
Calculate the wavelength of yellow light emitted from a sodium
lamp if the frequency is 5.10 x 1014 Hz.
EXAMPLE
Light takes 1.28 s to travel from the moon to the Earth. What is the
distance between them?
 HOW DOES LIGHT TRAVEL? (REVIEW)
Light travels in straight lines. We can easily see this by the creation of
shadows.

If the light source is a point, you will have a dark and sharp shadow
because no light is reflected.

If the light source is not a point then two types of shadows are created. The
umbra is the fully shaded region where no light is reflected. The
penumbra is the partially shaded region where partial reflection occurs.
APPLICATION: IMAGES IN A PINHOLE CAMERA
A pinhole camera is effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one
side. Light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an
inverted image on the opposite side of the box.

** If light passes through a tiny hole, the image is inverted.**

The relationship between objects and their images is given by
the formula:
ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑝𝑖𝑛ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑎
=
ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑝𝑖𝑛ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑎

Or

hi / ho = di / do
EXAMPLE:
Determine the height of an image produced by an object 12.2 m in
height that is 19.7 m from a camera with a lens to film length of 38
mm.
EXAMPLE:
Determine the height of an image produced by an object 12.2 m in
height that is 19.7 m from a camera with a lens to film length of 38
mm.
hi = di / do x ho
hi = ?
ho = 12.2m
di=38 mm so 0.038 m
do= 19.7 m

Answer: 0.024 m or 24 mm
 PRACTICE
A pinhole camera 25cm long is used to photograph a building 10m high,
located 30m from the camera. Calculate the height of the image on the
film. 8.3cm

A pinhole camera 20.0cm long is used to photograph a student 175cm

high. If the image is 10.0cm high, how far from the camera is the student?
3.50 x 102 cm