Reflection, refraction, converging lenses Flashcards
What is the incident ray
Light ray going towards the surface
What is the reflected ray
Light ray going away from surface
What is the point of incidence
Point at which incident ray strikes the surface
What is the normal
Perpendicular line at surface at point of incidence
What is the angle of incidence
Angle between incident ray and normal
What is the angle of reflection
Angle between reflected ray and normal
What are the laws of reflection
- Angle of incidence = angle of reflection
- Incident ray, reflected ray and normal at point of incidence all lie in the same plane
What are the characteristics of an image formed in a plane mirror
- Same size
- Upright
- Virtual
- Laterally inverted
- Image distance = object distance
Define refraction
Refraction is the bending of light as it travels from one medium to another medium of different optical density
What happens when light travels from an optically less dense medium to an optically denser medium
- Speed of light decreases
- Light bends towards normal
What happens when light travels from an optically denser medium to an optically less dense medium
- Speed of light increases
- Light bends away from normal
Define refractive index
Refractive index is the ratio of the speed of light in vacuum to the speed of light in the medium
What is the speed of light in vacuum
3.0x10^8 ms^-1
Define focal length
Focal length is the distance between the optical centre C and the principal focal point F
What are the laws of refraction
- Incident ray, reflected ray and normal at point of incidence all lie in the same plane
- For 2 given media, ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction is a constant