Light and Optics Quiz

Study Notes

Light is electromagnetic radiation that travels as a transverse wave.
It exhibits wave-particle duality, meaning it can behave as both a wave and a particle.
Light travels in straight lines, and is a disturbance in electric and magnetic fields.
Speed of light in a vacuum is approximately 300,000 km/s (or 3 x 10⁸ m/s).
Light is created by vibrating electrons.
The electromagnetic spectrum encompasses various types of light, each with different frequencies and wavelengths.
The visible spectrum, a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, is ROYGBIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet).
The wave equation relates wave speed, frequency, and wavelength (v = fλ).
Various technologies, like Wifi, Bluetooth, and cellular signals, utilize forms of electromagnetic radiation.
Additive colour mixing involves combining coloured lights. Red, green, and blue (RGB) are primary colours.
Subtractive colour mixing involves combining coloured pigments or filters, where specific colours of light are absorbed.
Examples of colour mixing are explained for light and objects using primary and secondary colours such as cyan, magenta, and yellow.
Light sources include incandescent, bioluminescence, chemiluminescence, triboluminescence, fluorescent, LED, the sun, and lightning.
Light phenomena include transparency, translucency, and opacity.
Reflection of light occurs, including regular reflection (mirrors) and diffuse reflections (other objects).

Mirrors can be regular or curved (concave or convex)
Concave mirrors can produce various image types (upright, inverted, real, virtual) The size of an image can be larger or smaller than the object.
Convex mirrors always produce virtual images that are smaller than the object.
Ray diagrams are used to illustrate how light interacts with flat and curved mirrors.
Magnification (M) is calculated by the ratio of image height to object height (or image distance to object distance).
Magnification is equal to the height of the image (hi) divided by the height of the object (ho)

Refraction is the bending of light as it passes from one medium to another.
Refraction occurs due to a change in the speed of light in different mediums.
Examples of refraction include rainbows, mirages, shimmering stars, and dispersion, including the "breaking" effect of a straw in a glass of water.
The index of refraction (n) is a measure of how much a medium slows down light.
Ray diagrams can be used to depict how light rays refract when moving from one medium to another. Total internal reflection is a special type of refraction where light is reflected back into the denser medium when the angle of incidence exceeds the critical angle.
Snell's Law describes the relationship between the angles of incidence and refraction, and the refractive indices of the two mediums where n₁ sin θ₁ = n₂ sin θ₂

Lenses can be converging (convex) or diverging (concave).
Converging lenses cause light rays to converge (come together).
Diverging lenses cause light rays to diverge (spread apart).
Ray diagrams can be used to illustrate how light interacts with lenses, forming images.
The human eye has features similar to a converging lens.
Defects include short-sightedness (myopia), long-sightedness (hyperopia), and astigmatism.
Various technologies utilize lenses, including eyeglasses, cameras, telescopes, magnifying glasses, projectors, binoculars, and laser pointers.