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PHYSICS NOTES

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Reflection Of Light Regular Reflection:
A highly polished surface, such as a Regular reflection, also known as
mirror, reflects most of the light falling specular reflection, occurs when light
on it. The phenomenon of bouncing waves hit a smooth surface, such as a
back of light from a surface is known mirror, and bounce back at the same
as the reflection of light. An object angle as the incoming light. This type
reflects light that falls on it. of reflection produces a clear and
sharp image, with no distortion or
blurring.

Diffuse Reflection:
Diffuse reflection, on the other hand,
occurs when light waves hit a rough
or uneven surface, such as a piece of
paper or a wall. In this case, the light
waves bounce back in many
different directions, causing the
image to appear blurry and distorted.
This reflected light, when received by Diffuse reflection is what allows us to
our eyes, enables us to see things. We see objects that are not directly
are able to see through a transparent illuminated, as the scattered light can
medium as light is transmitted through still reach our eyes.
it.
Laws Of Reflection:
(i)The angle of incidence is equal to
the angle of reflection,
(ii)The incident ray, the normal to the
mirror at the point of incidence and
the reflected ray, all lie in the same
plane. These laws of reflection are
applicable to all types of reflecting
surfaces including spherical surfaces.

Types Of Reflection:
There are two types of reflection:
 Radius of curvature (R): The radius of
the hollow glass spehere of which the
mirror is a part
Pole (P): The mid point of the
spherical mirror
Focus (F): The point at which the
parallel beams of light converge (or
seem to converge) after reflection
from the mirror
Focal length (d): Half the radius of
curvature
Spherical Mirrors
The reflecting surface of a spherical
mirror may be curved inwards or
outwards.
For spherical mirrors of small
apertures, the radius of curvature is
found to be equal to twice the focal
length i.e. R = 2f. This implies that the
principal focus of a spherical mirror
lies midway between the pole and
centre of curvature.
1.Concave mirror
A spherical mirror, whose reflecting
surface is curved inwards, that is,
faces towards the centre of the
sphere, is called a concave mirror.

Terms related to spherical mirrors:

Center of curvature (c): The center of
the hollow glass sphere of which the
mirror is a part
Uses of concave mirrors In big showrooms and departmental
 Used in torches, search-lights stores, convex mirrors are used to
and vehicles headlights to get have a view on the customers
powerful parallel beams of light. entering in as well as going out.
 As shaving mirrors to see a larger Important terms-
image of the face.
 The dentists use concave mirrors Ray of Light: A line drawn in the
to see large images of the teeth direction of propagation of light is
of patients. called a ray of light.
 Large concave mirrors are used
to concentrate sunlight to Beam of Light : A group of rays of light
produce heat in solar furnaces. emitted by a source of light is called
a beam of light. A light beam is of
2.Convex mirror three types.
A spherical mirror whose reflecting
surface is curved outwards, is called a Real Image : It is a kind of image
convex mirror. which is formed by actual intersection
of light rays after reflection.

Virtual Image : It is a kind of image

which is formed by producing the
reflected rays backward after
reflection.

Pole: The centre of the reflecting

surface of a spherical mirror is a point
called the pole. It lies on the surface
Uses of a convex mirror
of the mirror.
Commonly used as rear-view (wing)
Centre of curvature: The reflecting
mirrors in vehicles. These mirrors are
surface of a spherical mirror forms a
fitted on the sides of the vehicle,
part of a sphere. This sphere has a
enabling the driver to see traffic
centre. This point is called the centre
behind him/her to facilitate safe
of curvature of the spherical mirror.
driving. It enables the driver to view
much larger area than would be
Radius of curvature: The radius of the
possible with a plane mirror.
sphere of which the reflecting surface
of a spherical mirror forms a part, is
called the radius of curvature of the
mirror.

Principal axis: A straight line passes

through the pole and the centre of
curvature of a spherical mirror. This
line is called the principal axis.

Principal Focus: When rays from

infinity come in parallel to the optical
axis of a spherical mirror, they are
bent so that they either converge If h is the height of the object and h′ is
and intersect in at a point, or they the height of the image, then the
seem to diverge from a point. The magnification m produced by a
point of convergence or divergence spherical mirror is given by:
is called the focus. It is denoted by
letter F. MIRROR FORMULA
In a spherical mirror, the distance of
Focal length: The distance between the object from its pole is called the
the pole and the principal focus of a object distance (u). The distance of
spherical mirror is called the focal the image from the pole of the mirror
length. It is represented by the letter f. is called the image distance (v). The
distance of the principal focus from
Aperture: The diameter of the the pole is called the focal length
reflecting surface of spherical mirror is (f). There is a relationship between
called its aperture. these three quantities given by the
mirror formula which is expressed as-
Magnification:
Magnification produced by a
spherical mirror gives the relative
extent to which the image of an
object is magnified with respect to
the object size.
Sign Convention for Reflection by principal axis (along –y-axis) are
Spherical Mirrors taken as negative
While dealing with the reflection of
light by spherical mirrors, we shall Refraction of Light
follow a set of sign conventions called The phenomenon of deviation of light
the New Cartesian Sign Convention. rays from its path, when it travels from
In this convention, the pole (P) of the one transparent medium to another
mirror is taken as the origin. The medium, is called refraction of light.
principal axis of the mirror is taken as The cause of refraction is due to the
the x-axis (X’X) of the coordinate different speeds of light in a different
system. The conventions are as medium.
follows –

(i)The object is always placed to the

When a ray of light enters from one
left of the mirror. This implies that the
medium to another medium, its
light from the object falls on the mirror
frequency and phase do not
from the left-hand side.
change, but wavelength and
(ii) All distances parallel to the
velocity change.
principal axis are measured from the
Due to refraction from Earth’s
pole of the mirror.
atmosphere, the stars appear to
(iii)All the distances measured to the
twinkle.
right of the origin (along + x-axis) are
taken as positive while those
Laws of Refraction:
measured to the left of the origin
The incident ray, the refracted ray
(along – x-axis) are taken as negative.
and the normal at the point of
(iv)Distances measured
incidence all three lie in the same
perpendicular to and above the
plane.
principal axis (along + y-axis) are
The ratio of the sine angle of
taken as positive.
incidence to the sine angle of
(v)Distances measured
refraction remains constant for a pair
perpendicular to and below the
of media i.e.
Sin i/Sin r = constant = μ2/μ1, this law Critical Angle:
is known as Snell’s law The angle of incidence in a denser
medium for which the angle of
refraction in the rarer medium
becomes 90°, is called the critical
angle.

Application of Refraction: Total Internal Reflection:

When light travels through a denser When a light ray travelling from a
medium towards a rarer medium it denser medium to a rarer medium, in
deviates away from the normal, this incident at the interface at an
therefore a pond appears shallower. angle of incidence greater than the
 A coin appears at a lesser depth critical angle, then light rays are
in water. reflected back into the denser
 Writing on paper appears lifted medium, this phenomenon is known
when a glass slab is placed over as total internal reflection
the paper.  The sparkling of diamonds,
 mirages and looming,
 shinning of the air bubble in
water and
 optical Fibre are examples of
total internal reflection.
Prism: DISPERSION OF WHITE LIGHT BY A
Prism is a uniform transparent GLASS PRISM
refracting medium bounded by The prism has probably split the
plane surfaces inclined at some incident white light into a band of
angles forming a triangular shape. colours. the sequence of colours
VIBGYOR . The splitting of light into its
component colours is called
dispersion.

Different colours of light bend through

different angles with respect to the
incident ray, as they pass through a
prism. The red light bends the least
while the violet the most. Thus the rays
of each colour emerge along
Dispersion of light: different paths and thus become
When light is incident on a glass prism, distinct.It is the band of distinct
it disperses into its seven colour colours that we see in a spectrum.
components in the following
sequence VIBGYOR, and this is known
as the dispersion of white light.
The refractive index of glass is
maximum for violet colour and
minimum for the red colour of light,
therefore the violet colour of light
deviated maximum and red colour of
light deviated least.
A rainbow is a natural spectrum
appearing in the sky after a rain
shower. It is caused by dispersion of
sunlight by tiny water droplets,
present in the atmosphere. A rainbow
is always formed in a direction
opposite to that of the Sun. The water
droplets act like small prisms. They
refract and disperse the incident
sunlight, then reflect it internally, and
finally refract it again when it comes
out of the raindrop Due to the Twinkling of stars
dispersion of light and internal The twinkling of a star is due to
reflection, different colours reach the atmospheric refraction of starlight.
observer’s eye.

ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION
The air just above the fire becomes
hotter than the air further up. The
hotter air is lighter (less dense) than
the cooler air above it, and has a
refractive index slightly less than that
of the cooler air.

The starlight, on entering the earth’s

atmosphere, undergoes refraction
continuously before it reaches the
earth. The atmospheric refraction
occurs in a medium of gradually
changing refractive index. Since the
atmosphere bends starlight towards
Since the physical conditions of the the normal, the apparent position of
refracting medium (air) are not the star is slightly different from its
stationary, the apparent position of actual position. As the path of rays of
the object, as seen through the hot light coming from the star goes on
air, fluctuate. This wavering is thus an varying slightly, the starlight entering
effect of atmospheric refraction the eye flickers – the star sometimes
(refraction of light by the earth’s appears brighter, and at some other
atmosphere). time, fainter, which is the twinkling
effect.

Advance sunrise and delayed sunset

The Sun is visible to us about 2 minutes
before the actual sunrise, and about
2 minutes after the actual sunset
because of atmospheric refraction.
The time difference between actual
sunset and the apparent sunset is
about 2 minutes.
 looked dark. The sky appears dark to
passengers flying at very high
altitudes, as scattering is not
prominent at such heights.

SCATTERING OF LIGHT
The blue colour of the sky, colour of
water in deep sea, the reddening of Total Internal Reflection
the sun at sunrise and the sunset.
a)mirage – Desert e.g.

Hotter air is less dense, and has

smaller refractive index than the
cooler air. On hot summer days, the
Why is the colour of the clear Sky
air near the ground becomes hotter
Blue?
than the air at higher levels noticed
The red light has a wavelength about
that while moving in a bus or a car
1.8 times greater than blue light. Thus,
during a hot summer day, a distant
when sunlight passes through the
patch of road, especially on a
atmosphere, the fine particles in air
highway, appears to be wet. This is
scatter the blue colour (shorter
also due to mirage.
wavelengths) more strongly than red.
The scattered blue light enters our
b) Diamonds – Their brilliance is mainly
eyes. If the earth had no atmosphere,
due to the total internal reflection of
there would not have been any
light inside them.
scattering. Then, the sky would have
c) Optical fibres too make use of the
phenomenon of total internal
reflection.Light undergoes repeated
total internal reflections along the
length of the fibre there is no
appreciable loss in the intensity of the
light signal.

when a fine beam of sunlight enters a

smoke-filled room through a small
hole. Tyndall effect can also be
observed when sunlight passes
through a canopy of a dense forest.

Tyndall Effect
The earth’s atmosphere is a The colour of the scattered light
heterogeneous mixture of minute depends on the size of the scattering
particles like smoke, tiny water particles. Very fine particles scatter
droplets, suspended particles of dust mainly blue light while particles of
and molecules of air.When a beam of larger size scatter light of longer
light strikes such fine particles, the wavelengths.
path of the beam becomes visible.