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Questions and Answers
Which term describes the phenomena of multiple light waves interacting with one another under certain circumstances?
What is the process of transforming unpolarized light waves to polarized light waves called?
What term refers to the total amount of light energy emitted by a light source per unit of time?
Which unit is used to measure the quantity of light incident on a surface?
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When white light is passed through a glass prism and splits into its spectrum of colors, this process is termed as:
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What property do transverse waves show?
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Which term describes the process where light is absorbed by particles of a medium and then radiated in a particular direction when passing to another medium?
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Study Notes
Fundamental Laws of Light
- Luminous transmittance measures a material's ability to transmit incident light, varying in nomenclature with terms like transmittance, transmission factor, or coefficient of transmission.
- Reflectance, also known as reflectance factor or coefficient of reflection, defines the ratio of reflected light to incident light; a 50% reflectance indicates half of the incident light is bounced back.
- Light can either be absorbed, transmitted, or reflected when it strikes a surface.
Types of Reflection
- Specular Reflection: Occurs when light reflects off a smooth surface, maintaining its angle of incidence.
- Diffuse Reflection: Involves light scattering in many directions, producing a uniform light appearance.
- Specular-Diffuse Reflection: A combination of both specular and diffuse reflection behaviors.
- Diffuse Transmission: Light rays spread widely, beneficial for obscuring light sources, exemplified by frosted glass.
- Non-Diffuse Transmission: Involves direct reflection or transmission of unidirectional beams, adhering to laws of geometrical optics.
Light Terminologies and Definitions
- Candlepower (cp): Unit of luminous intensity, also known as candela.
- Lux (lx): Unit of illuminance, representing luminous flux per unit area, indicating the quantity of light.
- Lumens (lm): Measure of total visible light output from a lamp or light source.
- Foot Candle (fc): Measurement of light intensity based on illuminance on a one-square-foot surface from a uniform light source.
Fundamental Properties of Light
- Reflection: Characteristic where a ray of light strikes a boundary between two media and remains in the original medium, reflecting at the same angle as the incident angle.
- Refraction: Occurs when light passes from one medium to another, changing both direction and speed, influenced by the refractive index.
- Diffraction: Involves the spreading of waves when they pass through an aperture or around obstacles, evident when aperture size is comparable to the wavelength of the incident wave.
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Description
Learn about the fundamental laws of light, including the definitions of transmittance and reflectance. Explore how these quantities are calculated based on incident and emitted light.
