light and its properties Flashcards
Time taken for light to travel to the moon from the earth
1.3 seconds
Scattering of light as it passes through a narrow openning (aperture); The separation of white light into its constituent colours
Dispersion
Scattering of light as it passes through a transparent medium in which small particles are in suspension
Tyndal effect
Study of light and vision
Optics
The bending of light around a surface
Refraction
The bending of light around an opaque object
Defraction
The phenomenon/property that exist in light which anables it to travel in a straight line
Linear propogation
Time taken for light to reach the surface of the earth from the sun
8 minutes
Light having only one or a constant wavelength
Monochromatic light
Wavelength of visible light
400 to 700 nanometer
The speed ratio of how fast light travel in a substance compared to that of air
Refractive index
Law shows the relationship between incident ray and refractive ray in the formula η=sini/sinr where n represents the refractive index
Snells law
Name given to a single beam of light
Ray
A collection of light rays together
Beam/pencil
The bounce back of light rays from a reflecting surface
Reflection
phenomenon occurs at the boundary between two transparent media when a ray of light in a medium of higher index of refraction approaches the other medium at an angle of incidence greater than the critical angle
Total internal reflexion
The dark part of a shadow
Umbra
The partially illuminated part of a shadow
Penumbra
Triangular shape piece of glass used to separate white light into its constituent colours
Prism
A plane perpendicular to the principal axis
Focal plane
is an object (e.g. a line, ray, or vector) that is perpendicular to a given object
Normal
in optics, the greatest angle at which a ray of light, travelling in one transparent medium, can strike the boundary between that medium and a second of lower refractive index without being totally reflected within the first medium.
Critical angle
the angle between a ray incident on a surface and the line perpendicular (at 90 degree angle) to the surface at the point of incidence
Angle of incidence
