Académique Documents
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FLUORESENCE
LUMINESCENCE
● the emission of light by a material or object that has not been heated (ex.:
fluorescence—uses UV light to excite atoms of the phosphor)
○ opposite of incandescence
● types of luminescence:
○ fluorescence
○ phosphorescence—light that is emitted due to exposure of the source
to UV light, and that continues to be emitted for some time in the
absence of the UV light
■ similar to fluorescence, except the excited atoms in the
phosphorescent material retain the energy for several
minutes (or even hours)
■ the phosphorescent materials glow long after they have
absorbed the UV light (ex.: glow in the dark objects)
○ chemiluminescence—light that is produced by a chemical reaction
without a rise in temperature
■ the energy of a chemical reaction causes the light to be
generated
■ ex.: glow sticks—two different chemicals are in the
stick (one is inside and one is outside a glass capsule);
when the glow stick bends, the glass capsule breaks and
the 2 chemicals combine; dye in the solutions cause the
colour of the light (red dye, yellow dye, blue dye etc.)
○ bioluminescence—light that is produced by a biochemical reaction in
a living organism
■ chemical reactions in the living cells produce the light
■ common in marine animals (krill, jellyfish, deep-sea
starfish, black dragonfish)
● light is the only form of energy that can travel like a wave through empty space and
through some materials
○ light behaves like a special kind of wave, called an electromagnetic
wave
● electromagnetic waves involve the movement of energy from one point to another
● a wave length is the distance from one crest (or trough) of a wave to the next crest
(or trough)
● electromagnetic waves are invisible and can travel through a vacuum—they don’t
need particles in order to travel
○ they travel through a vacuum, such as space, at the speed of light
(3.00 x 108 m/s)
● EMR
● is a diagram that illustrates the range (or spectrum) of electromagnetic waves in
order of wavelength or frequency
● waves in order of *largest to shortest wavelength* and *lowest frequency & energy
to highest frequency & energy*:
○ radio waves
○ microwaves
○ infrared
○ visible light—ROY G BIV
○ ultraviolet
○ x-Rays
○ gamma rays
● the colours of light are just different wavelengths of light
○ the colour red has the longest wavelength, while violet has the
shortest wavelength of all the visible light
RAYS OF LIGHT
● light travels in a straight line as long as it is moving through the same medium
○ medium is the substance through with light travels
○ this property of light allows you to make predictions about the
appearance of objects, and for example, their shadows
● a technique known as ray tracing is used to make ray diagrams
○ a ray is a straight line with an arrowhead that shows the direction in
which light waves are travelling
RAY TRACING
● rays can be used to predict the location, size, and shape of the shadows of objects
FERMAT’S PRINCIPLE
● this principle predicts the path that light will take after reflecting from a surface or
passing through more than one medium
● according to the principle, light follows the path that will take the least time
● when light reflects from a surface and remains in one medium, its speed is
constant; therefore, the path that takes the least time is the shortest path
● Fermat’s principle leads to the “laws of reflection”
LAWS OF REFLECTION
● the normal is the line that is perpendicular to a surface where a ray of light meets
the surface
○ it’s perpendicular to the point of contact of the incident ray (point of
incident)
● an incident ray is a ray of light that travels from a light source toward a surface
○ the angle of incidence is measure between the incident ray and the
normal
● the reflected ray is a ray which begins at the point where the incident ray and the
normal meet
○ the angle of reflection is the angle between the reflected ray and the
normal in a ray diagram
● there are 2 laws of reflection:
○ the incident ray, reflected ray, and normal all lie on the same
plane(flat surface)
○ the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence
● the laws of reflection apply to light and all other forms of waves, such as sound
waves
● useful for billiards—angle at which the ball hits the side of the table, is the angle at
which it will bounce off the table
● the object placed in front of a mirror is the object; the likeness that is seen in the
mirror is the image
● using the laws of reflection, rays are drawn going from the object, and you can
predict where the image will be and what the image will look like
○ you can predict the characteristics of the image
● a plane mirror is a mirror with a flat, reflective surface
● the brain assumes that a light ray travels in a straight line
○ to find out where the eyes “see” the image, extend the rays that reach
the eye backward until they meet at a point behind the mirror
○ the extended rays are shown by dashed lines
○ the point at which the dashed lines meet is the location of one point
on the object
■ by repeating the process for several points on the
blueberry, you can find out exactly where the entire
image of the blueberry is located
VIRTUAL IMAGES
● a virtual image is an image formed by rays that appear to be coming from a certain
position, but are not actually coming from this position
● virtual image do not form a visible projection on a screen; if the light ray hits the
screen and forms an image on the screen, the image is NOT virtual (it is real)
● in a virtual image, light rays only APPEAR to be coming from an image
● if the image is behind a mirror, there is no way light rays can get there—they image
MUST be virtual
● Radar was invented in 1935, and was used to detect aircraft from the ground during
WWII
● military aircraft (such as stealth fighter) needed to avoid detection
● two features of the stealth craft made it invisible to radar
○ paint used on the aircraft absorbs much of the energy from the radar
waves
■ the base of the paint allows radar waves to penetrate the
surface
■ then the radar waves reflect from one particle to the
next, losing energy along the way
■ although paint absorbs much of the energy, some radar
waves still reflect off the plane
○ the shape of the airplane—all the surfaces of the plane are flat and all
the edges are sharp
■ most of the incoming radar rays will not hit
perpendicular to these surfaces
■ when the rays reflect from the surfaces of the stealth,
most of the reflected rays will not return to the radar
antenna
■ if some of the rays do reflect back to the antenna, it will
not be a problem because the signal will be so small that
the radar operators will think that the aircraft is a small
bird
● in a curved mirror, the size of the image is not identical to the size of the object
● examples: make-up mirrors, car headlights, flashlight (allows light to be a
beam—converged)
● when light rays that are parallel to the principal axis hit a spherical mirror at points
that aren’t close to the centre region of the mirror (principal axis), the reflected rays
DON’T meet at the same point
○ this means the focal point is spread out over a large area
● the image becomes spread out
● spherical aberration—the irregularities in an image in a curved mirror that result
when reflected rays from the outer parts of the mirror do not go through the focal
point
● however, concave mirrors in the shape of a parabola eliminates spherical aberration
● solar ovens use heat from the sun (which is free), to cook food
● solar ovens are used in countries like Somalia and Tanzania, where most people
live in just a few hundred dollars a year—not enough money to pay for propane,
electricity or kerosene for stove use
○ kerosene and propane fuel also emit dangerous gases
● solar ovens don’t use electricity the way conventional ovens do
● solar ovens are used to replace the use of cooking with wood—smoke from wood
fires cause respiratory diseases, and lead to deforestation
● solar cooking requires no fuel, emits no greenhouse gases, and is smoke-free
● however, the cost to build a solar oven is quite expensive
● solar ovens work best in hot and sunny areas—these areas are usually home to the
very poor (Somalia, Africa etc.)
● how a solar oven works: the oven is a parabolic surface (no spherical aberration),
and the solar radiation reflects and comes together at the focal point and is
converted to heat; this heat is used for cooking
○ surface of oven is a shiny metal (ex: aluminum)
● a radar antenna is basically a concave mirror in the shape of a parabola that can
send a receive radio waves
● a radio wave generator and detector are located at the focal point of the antenna—a
pulse of radio waves that lasts a few thousandths of a second hits the antenna and is
sent out toward the sky
○ for the next few seconds, the antenna acts as a receiver—any
returning radio waves that reach the antenna are directed to the
detector at the focal point
● then, another pulse of radio waves are sent out, the process repeating again
● when you shine rays of light parallel to the principal axis onto a convex mirror, the
reflected rays travel out and away from each other
● in a convex mirror, you have to extend the reflected rays backward behind the
mirror, until they meet –this means all images from a convex mirror are virtual
● magnification equation
● security mirrors in convenience stores—gives the clerk in the store a very large
area of store to view (allows you to see almost everything)
○ convex security mirrors are sometimes used on public transportation
buses and also on roads with sharp curves in some countries
● convex mirrors are attached to the end of a long handle at an angle, and are used at
border crossings
○ security guards often need to see the underside of large semitrailers
and other vehicles
○ by moving the mirror just under the side of the vehicle, the security
guard can see everything on the bottom
● the convex shape of an aerodynamic plane allows radio waves to hit the plane at
nearly a perpendicular angle to many surfaces of the plane
○ the rays will be reflected almost directly backward
○ the radar antenna will detect the reflected rays and locate the aircraft
Handouts
● a luminous object is something that gives off light; a non luminous object is
something that doesn’t give off light
● light emitted from a material because of high temperatures is called incandescence;
light emitted from a material without producing heat is called luminescence
PROPERTIES OF LIGHT
● light travels in straight lines in the same medium (air, water etc.)
○ light goes straight if it’s in pure air; if it penetrates air and then water,
line isn’t straight
● light is a form of energy (type of electromagnetic radiation)
● speed of light in a vacuum (empty space) is: C = 3.0 x 108 m/s
● light travels in waves
● white light is made of a spectrum of colours
● when light hits an object, it can do the following thing(s): reflect off it, be absorbed
by it, or be transmitted through it (passed through it)
CURVED MIRRORS