Chapter 1 Flashcards
what is specular reflection
the incident light is reflected into a single outgoing direction
what is the law of reflection?
the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence from the normal of the surface and only holds for specular reflection
what are conditions for a specular reflection
surface is very smooth and mirror like
what is a diffuse reflection
the incident ray is scattered at many angles (not just one)
what are conditions for a diffuse reflection
the reflecting surface is rough
What is refraction
when ray of light goes through a transparent medium, part of it is reflected and the part that enters the second medium and changes direction (toward or away from normal) is refracted
what does the angle of refraction depend on
- properties of the 2 media
- angle of incidence
what is the equation for angle of refraction
sinO2/sinO1=v2/v1
O2 is the angle of refracted ray to normal
O1 is the angle of incident ray to normal
v2 is speed of light in the 2nd medium
v1 is speed of light in the 1st medium
when is the refracted ray bent toward the normal
when v1 is greater than v2
v1>v2
when v2 is greater than v1
v1<v2
the refracted ray is bent away from normal
what is the index of refraction (n)
ratio of speed to light in vacuum to speed of light in medium
n = c/v
what is speed of light?
3.0x10^8
why is the index of refraction (n) always greater than 1 and dimensionless?
speed of light in vacuum is always larger
since ur dividing speed by speed its dimentionless
what is the refraction of index of vacuum (air)
n=1
when speed changes when entering a new medium what happens to its frequency and wavelength
frequency does NOT change
wavelength does change
