light Flashcards
what is light
a form of electromagnetic wave that doesnt require a medium
what does the double slit experiment explain
that light is both a wave and a particle
what are colours related to
wavelength and frequency
what is white light
a mix of all the wavelengths of visible light but doesn’t reflect them
how does the human eye see colours
white light bounces off the surface of the object, and the colour gets reflected to the human eye while the rest get absorbed
are electromagnetic wave both electric and magnetic and how
yes, the electric part oscillates to one plane and the magnetic to a different one
what is a regular and diffuse reflection
a regular reflection has a smooth surface and produces a reflection while a diffuse has a coarse surface and no reflection is given
what is a ray of light
a straight line light travels
what are the laws of reflection
- angle of incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection
- the incident ray, reflected ray and normal ray all lay on the same plane
what is refraction of light
the bending of light when it travels from one medium to another
what does the process of refraction do
change the speed of light
when light slows down, where does it bend
towards the normal
when light speeds up, where does it bend
away from the normal
what is the refractive index
a measure of how easily light travels through a medium
if light travels to a substance with a higher refractive index, what happens
it bends towards the normal
