Light and Sound Energy Test Thing Flashcards
What are the different types of mirrors and how does light reflect off of them?
There are three basic types of mirrors: plane mirrors, convex mirrors, and concave mirrors. Mirrors reflect all of the light that strikes them. A plane mirror is flat, a convex mirror is curved outward like a sphere, and a concave mirror is curved inward like a bowl. The way light reflects off of a mirror depends on the type of mirror and the position of the object in front of the mirror.
How does the type of surface affect how light reflects off of it?
A smooth surface will reflect light in a predictable way. A rough surface will cause light to scatter in many different directions. Some materials, such as mirrors, reflect all wavelengths, or colors, of visible light. Other types of materials will absorb some wavelengths of light and reflect others. When this reflected light enters your eye, you see the object and observe that it has a particular color.
What is the speed of a light wave?
In a vacuum, light energy travels at the speed of light, which is 3 × 108 m/s. When light travels through different media, such as air, water, or glass, it travels at different speeds depending on the type of material it passes through.
What are the frequency, wavelength, and amplitude of a wave?
Frequency is a measure of the number of waves that pass a certain point in one second. Wavelength is the distance between two peaks of a wave. The amplitude of a wave is the distance from the equilibrium point of a wave to a peak or a trough. Amplitude is used to measure the strength of a wave.
What is transmission of light and how does it compare with reflection?
Transmission of light occurs when light passes through a material. This happens when a material is transparent or translucent. Transmission is the opposite of reflection. During reflection, light bounces away from a material in a different direction but at the same angle that it strikes the material.
What is absorption and how does it affect the energy of a material?
Absorption of light occurs when the particles in a material absorb light energy. This light energy is usually converted to heat energy, causing the temperature of the material to increase. Some materials absorb particular frequencies of light and reflect others. For example, black materials absorb all frequencies of visible light.
What is refraction?
Refraction is the bending of light. This usually occurs when light passes from one medium to another. Different substances will cause light to bend at different angles.
What is a lens and how does it affect the path of a light ray?
A lens is a piece of transparent glass that causes light rays to refract in predictable ways when they pass through it. A lens can be flat, concave, or convex. The shape of the lens affects how light will bend as it passes through.
How do waves travel and carry energy?
Waves spread out in all directions from an initial pulse of energy. As waves vibrate and spread out, they transmit the initial pulse of energy.
How do waves interact with each other?
Waves that travel independently interact with each other when they meet. This interaction between waves is known as interference. When waves interfere with each other, the displacement that results is the sum of the displacements of the individual waves. If two waves are in phase, so that their crests and troughs overlap, their amplitudes are added together to create a wave with greater amplitude than the original waves. This is known as constructive interference. If two waves that meet are completely out of phase, so that the crest of one wave overlaps the trough of the other, the resulting new wave will have a smaller amplitude than the original waves. This is known as destructive interference.
What are ultraviolet waves and how do they compare to visible light waves?
What are the other waves on the electromagnetic spectrum? Which ones have the highest and lowest frequencies?
Ultraviolet waves, also known as UV rays, are next to visible light waves on the electromagnetic spectrum. UV rays have higher frequencies and shorter wavelengths than visible light. Stars radiate UV rays. The UV rays radiated by the Sun can cause sunburns on your skin.
The other waves on the electromagnetic spectrum are radio waves, microwaves, X-rays, and gamma rays. Radio waves have the lowest frequencies and gamma rays have the highest frequencies.
What is the electromagnetic spectrum? What are the waves on the spectrum?
The electromagnetic spectrum is a scale to rate the amount of the sun’s radiation in light. The waves are radio, microwave, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma rays.
What are the wave properties of light energy?
What is the speed of a light wave?
Light energy travels as a wave. Some properties of light waves include frequency, wavelength, and amplitude. The amplitude of a light wave is the height of the wave, or intensity of the light. The wavelength is a measure of the distance the wave travels in one oscillation. The frequency of a light wave is a measure of the number of times the wave oscillates in one second.
In a vacuum, light energy travels at the speed of light, which is 3 × 108 m/s. When light travels through different media, such as air, water, or glass, it travels at different speeds depending on the type of material it passes through.
What are compressional and transverse waves?
Both types of waves are produced by something vibrating, compressional waves move back and forth along the same direction the wave is moving. Transverse waves move by causing matter to move @ right angles to the direction the wave is moving.
