Little IGCSE Physics Study Notes Physics class:_______ Name:_____________________ Notes

Unit 8 light
Key Terms:

Transverse wave Travelling wave in which oscillation is perpendicular to the direction of

travel
Longitudinal wave Travelling wave in which oscillation is parallel to the direction of travel
Speed of a wave The distance moved by a point on a wave in 1 s
Frequency The number of complete cycles that occur in 1 s
Wavelength The distance between corresponding points in successive cycles of a wave
Amplitude The maximum displacement of a wave from the undisturbed position
Electromagnetic spectrum Waves of the same nature with a wide range of wavelengths
made up of oscillating electric and magnetic fields
Refractive index Refractive index = speed of wave in medium 1 /speed of wave in medium
2
Real image An image that can be formed on a screen by the intersection of rays
Virtual image An image seen by observing rays diverging from it
Converging lens A lens which refracts parallel rays of light such that they converge to meet
at a point
Principal focus Rays of light parallel to the principal axis are refracted by the lens to pass
through the principal focus
Focal length The distance between the principal focus, F, and the optical centre, C
Normal – the straight line perpendicular to the surface
Angle of incidence – the angle between the ray of incidence and the normal
Angle of reflection – the angle between the ray of reflection and the normal
Angle of refraction – the angle between the ray of refraction and the normal

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Little IGCSE Physics Study Notes Physics class:_______ Name:_____________________ Notes
3.2.1 Reflection of light

Q3 of paper 53 (Summer 23)

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Little IGCSE Physics Study Notes Physics class:_______ Name:_____________________ Notes
Complete Q3 of paper 51 (Summer 23)

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Little IGCSE Physics Study Notes Physics class:_______ Name:_____________________ Notes
Reflection:

You should have found that the law of reflection holds true:

The law of reflection:

Measurements show that for any ray of light reflected by a

mirror:

the angle of _____________, i is ___________ the angle of

_______________, r

Refraction:

You should have found that the ray will ________ ______
from the normal when going from the transparent block
to air.

When going from the transparent block to air:

the angle of ______________, i is ______________the

angle of ______________, r

Complete the ray diagram to make the

Complete the ray diagram to make the

reflected image

Define:

Normal:___________________________________________________________________
Angle of Incidence:__________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Angle of reflection:__________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________

Mirror images
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Little IGCSE Physics Study Notes Physics class:_______ Name:_____________________ Notes
Images formed in a mirror are:
1._______________
2._______________________ as the object
3.________________
4.____________________ behind the mirror as the object
is in front.

A real image A virtual image

A real image is formed

when rays ____________.

A virtual image is formed when

the rays appear to come from a
Refraction of light point.

Refraction is the _________ of ________________ when waves cross a _____________.

This happens because _________________ changes.

For light waves, the boundary is a ________ of _________ with ____________

___________ of _______________.

Real and apparent depth

There is a difference between the ______ position and

the __________ position of objects in water because
of refraction

Refractive index

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Little IGCSE Physics Study Notes Physics class:_______ Name:_____________________ Notes
The refractive index - The refractive index, n, of a substance is defined as the ________ of
light in _______ divided by the speed of light in that substance. The speed of light is
300 000 000 m/s (3 x 108m/s).

Law of refraction (Snell’s law)

i r n=sin(i)/sin(r)
30 22

The critical angle and total internal reflection

The critical angle is the _____________ angle where

the ____________angle is ____.

Total internal reflection is when all light is _________

and there is no _____________. This happens when
the angle of ___________ is __________________
the __________________.

Applications of total internal reflection:

1 Optical fibres for _____ ____________
2 Optical fibres used in endoscopes to look inside a body

Thin lenses
Draw the pathway of parallel rays through these lenses:

Object more than 2F from the lens

The image is _____,
Object between F and 2F ___________ and
__________.

The image is _____,

___________ and
__________.

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Little IGCSE Physics Study Notes Physics class:_______ Name:_____________________ Notes

Applications of converging lens

A magnifying glass forms a ______________ _________ image when the object is ______
_______ __ to the lens

Correction of sight defects

Short sight – when the person cannot focus on ________ objects. Corrected using a
________ lens.
Long sight – when the person cannot focus on ________ objects. Corrected using a
__________ lens

Dispersion of light _____________ light is light of one colour only.

_________ light travels slower than ____ light in

a prism, and so gets refracted more.

White light is a mixture of many colours. Passing

white light through a triangular prism causes
white light to separate into its various colours.
This is called _________ of white light
The traditional seven colours of
the visible spectrum in order of frequency:
_________________________________________________________________
The traditional seven colours of the visible spectrum in order of wavelength
_________________________________________________________________

Electromagnetic spectrum

All ________________ waves travel at __________________ (c) in a vacuum (and air).

c = ________ m/s

The electromagnetic spectrum’s main regions are: _____________, ____________,

___________________, _____________, ____________, ____________ and
_______________. (Memorise this order!)

Using EM for communication

Satellite phones are phones that connect with
artificial ___________ using ____________.
Some satellite phones connect to _____________
artificial satellites. Some connect to
___________________ satellites.
Direct broadcast satellite television use
_________________ satellites.
Geostationary satellite are satellites that ________
with the earth so that it appears to be
____________ above the earth.

Many important systems of communications rely on electromagnetic radiation including:

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Little IGCSE Physics Study Notes Physics class:_______ Name:_____________________ Notes
1 ______________ (cell phones) and _________ ___________ use _____________
because microwaves can penetrate some walls and only require a short aerial for
transmission and reception.
2 ____________ uses _______ ______ because radio waves pass through walls, but the
signal is weakened on doing so.
3 _______ ________ (_______ _____ or _______) are used for ______ television and
______-______ ___________ because glass is transparent to visible light and some
infrared; visible light and short wavelength infrared can carry high rates of data

Digital and analogue signals

Analog signals (eg from a microphone) have

_____________ electrical signals. Any value
between 0 and 1.

Digital signals have ____-_____________

electrical signals. 0 or 1.

Sound can be transmitted as a _________ or __________ signal.

The benefits of transmitting sound as a digital signal are:
1 increased _____ __ ____________ of data
2 increased _____ __ ____________ of data

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