The Nature of Light and

Properties of Light
Reported by:
Jane Manalus
Lorena Muldong
Jane Nicole Musngi
 The Nature of Light
During the early days, light was regarded to be
composed of tiny particles that were emitted
from a source. These particles were
understood to stimulate the eyes to create a
vision.
 Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
• He made white light coming
from the sun pass through a
glass of prism.
• He was able to show that white
light was actually the sum of
different color in the rainbow, He
called it as cospuscles.
• Using this description of light, he
was able to provide an
explanation on the reflection
and bending of light as he
presented in his books Opticks.
 Christiaan huygens (1629-1695)
• He showed that the wave theory of light
could also explain bending and reflection of
light in his book Tratado Da Luz (Teatise on
light) 1690.
 Thomas young (1773-1829)
• He provided a clear demonstration of the
wave-like property of light.
• He showed on his double slit experiment that
under certain conditions, light interfere with
each other just like ocean waves interfere and
form an interference pattern.
James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)
• The theory of Thomas Young was
mathematically summarized by James Clerk
Maxwell.
• Because of this sensational discoveries, this
theory of light was able to explain most
known properties of light and the particle of
theory of light was scraped.
 Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
• At the dawn of the 21st century, a phenomena
occurred the wave theory of light could not
explain.
• One of each was the photoelectric effect
showing that when light strikes a metal
surface, electron are sometimes ejected from
the surface (like a billiard cue ball dislodge the
9-balls)
 Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
• In 1905, he said that the light has a particle-
like property just like the billiard, he called this
particles as photons.
• He also added that perhaps light can have
both particles and wave like properties and
this two are manifestation of the same kind.
He called it as Dual Nature of Light.
 Light as a ray
• When you make a pinhole in a
piece of paper and allow
sunlight to pass through it, that
thin light can be called a ray or
beam of light.
• A ray of light under a wide
variety of conditions, follows a
straight path. in a sense, it is a • A ray as an arrow,
path that travel by light through is an imaginary line
a medium. This is commonly along the direction
of light.
known as Ray Model of Light.
 Reflection
• We know that are sun emits
lights of all colors and this
illuminates our day. However
when evening comes, the lights
from the sun that bounds off the
surface of the moon illuminates
most our lights.
• The sun is known as the primary •The empty space
source of light and the moon on between the sun,
the other hand, is the secondary the earth and the
source, for it only remits a part moon where the
of the light that it receives from light travels, is what
the sun. we call a medium.
 Reflection continuation..
• Just like any wave, the
bouncing of light off a
surface of a medium is called
reflection.
• Remember that only part of
the incident ray is being
reflected by that surface.
The rest is either absorbed
by the object if it is an • Mirrors having a
opaque object or very shiny surface,
transmitted if the object is reflect over 90% of
transparent. the light they receive.
 Reflection continuation..
• A beam of light is incident on a
flat, shiny surface such as mirror.
• The angle of incidence 0i is the
angle of reflection made by the
incident ray (the ray that is
approaching a surface or
boundary) from the normal
which is the perpendicular line
drawn from the surface of The relationship between
incidence. the two angles is given by
• The angle of reflection 0r is the the law of reflection
angle made by the reflected ray which states that the
(the ray leaving the surface or angle of incidence is
boundary) from the normal. equal to the angle of
reflection 0i=0r
 Reflection continuation..
• There are two types of reflection: specular or
regular and diffused.
• Specular reflection is the type of reflected rays
followed uniform path.
• Diffused reflection happens when light rays hit
through surfaces causing light to redirect in a
non-uniform fashion.
 Refraction
• Refraction is the bending
of light.
– When light encounters a
change in medium, for
instance a light travelling
in air meets a water
surface, some are
reflected at the boundary
and the remainder is bent Ex: pencil in a glass
as its enter a different of water, and legs in
medium. a swimming pool.
 Refraction continuation..
• But how do we know which way light bends at
the surface between two substances?
– We need to understand first that light travels at
different speeds in various substances.
– In a vacuum the speed of light c is equal to 3.00 x
10 to the 8 power m/s. This speed is extremely
fast. In fact light can go around the Earth in less
than 1/7th of a second. And as stated in Special
Theory of Relativity of Albert Einstein nothing can
surpass this value; that is the ultimate speed of
the universe.
 Refraction continuation..
• In a medium, other than a vacuum, light
travels slower. This is because light interact
with atoms and molecules in a substance,
absorbing and reemitting light.
• Even though light is still travel at c between
atoms and molecules, the net result is that
light slows down in a substance by an amount
that depends on a substance molecular
structure, density and similar factors.
 Refraction continuation..
• The effects of these factors to the speed of
light in a medium is represented by the index
refraction n of the medium.
• This is defined as the ratio of the speed of
light in vacuum c to the speed of light v in the
medium: n = c/v
• This means that the higher the index of
refraction, the slower the light is. This is the
reason why light tends to bend when it enters
a different medium.
Index of refraction n of various materials
 Sample problems
• 1. what is the speed of light in a 30% sugar
solution?
• Given:
– n(sugar) at 30% = 1.38
– Speed of light, c= 3.00x10⁸ m/s
• Solution:
– Using the definition of n, we have
n(sugar) = c
v
• Or
v = c/n (sugar)

= 3.00x10⁸ m/s
1.38

= 2.17x10⁸ m/s

Answer:
light will travel in a 30% sugar solution with a
speed of 2.17x10⁸ m/s.
Solve it!
• 1. What is the speed of light in an 80% sugar
solution?
• 2. a beam of light is traveling in air. At what
angle will it be refracted if it is incident to a
fused quarts at an angle of 45°?
• Given:
Incident medium, n (air) = 1.00029
Refracting medium, n (quartz) = 1.46
Incident angle, θ1= 45°
• Solution: