Lesson 2
The Wave Nature of Light
New Vocabulary
diffraction
primary color
secondary color
complementary color
primary pigment
secondary pigment
polarization
Review Vocabulary
wavelength: the shortest distance between
points on a wave where the wave pattern
repeats itself, such as from crest to crest or from
trough to trough
- edges of shadows are not perfectly sharp
- the shadow cast by the rod was wider than the shadow should have been if light
traveled in straight line past the edges of the rod.
- The shadow was bordered by colored bands
- Huygen used a wave model to explain diffraction:
- All the points of a wavefront of light can be thought of as new sources of smaller
waves (wavelets)
- Wavelets expand in every direction and are in step with one another
- A flat or plane wavefront of light consists of an infinite number of point sources in a
line
Diffraction and the Wave Model
• The bending of light as it passes the edges of a
barrier is called diffraction.
• Huygen’s wavelets combine to form a straight
wavefront, except at the edges of the wave. The
wavelets spread out in a circular manner when a
barrier creates
an edge.
Color
• When a narrow beam of sunlight or white light
passes through a glass prism, it splits into different
colors.
• As white light crosses the boundary from air into
glass and back into air, its wave nature causes each
different color of light to be bent, or refracted,
at a different angle.
Color
Color
• This unequal bending of the different colors causes
the white light to be spread into a spectrum.
• Light has wave properties, and each color of light is
associated with a wavelength.
• Light falls within the range of wavelengths from
about 400 nm to 700 nm.
Color
• White light can be formed by adding red, green, and
blue light in equal amounts.
• For this reason, red, green, and blue are each called
a primary color.
• This is called the
additive color
process.
Color
• The primary colors can be mixed in pairs to form
three additional colors.
• The colors yellow, cyan, and magenta are each called
a secondary color,
because each is a
combination of two
primary colors.
• Complementary colors
are two colors of light
that can be combined
to make white light.
Color
• The color of an object depends on the wavelengths
present in the light that illuminates the object, and
on which wavelengths the object absorbs and
which it reflects.
• The existence of dyes
in a material or
pigments on its surface
give the object color.
Color
• A pigment that absorbs only one primary
color and reflects two from white light is called
a primary pigment.
• A pigment that absorbs
two primary colors and
reflects one color is
called a secondary
pigment.
Color
Note that the primary pigment colors are the
secondary colors. In the same way, the secondary
pigment colors are the primary colors.
Polarization of Light
Polarization of Light
Polarization of Light
Polarization of Light
Polarization of Light
Polarization of Light
Polarization of Light
Polarization of Light
Polarization of Light
Explain the following:
Polarization of Light
Polarization of Light
• Polarization is the production of light with a specific
pattern of oscillation.
• When the electric field of a light wave oscillates in
random directions, the light is nonpolarized.
Polarization of Light
• The lines in the polarizer represent a polarizing axis.
The light with the portion of the electric field that
oscillates parallel to the polarizing axis passes
through, while the light with the portion of the
electric field
that oscillates
perpendicular
to the axis is
absorbed.
Polarization of Light
• If a polarizer is placed in a beam of nonpolarized light,
only the components of the waves in the
same direction as the polarizing axis can pass through.
• As a result, half of
the total light
passes through,
reducing the
intensity of the
light by half.
Polarization of Light
• Polarization can also occur when light is reflected,
such as from a sheet of glass or from a road.
• Polarized reflected light causes glare. Polarizing
sunglasses reduce glare from the polarized light
reflected off roads.
• Photographers can use polarizing filters over camera
lenses to block reflected light.
Speed, Wavelength, and Frequency of Light
• For light of a given frequency traveling through a
vacuum, wavelength is a function of the speed of
light (c), which can be written as λ = c/f.
• When a light source is moving relative to an
observer, the light is Doppler shifted and the
frequency changes.
Quiz
1. What is the bending of light as it passes the edge
of a barrier called?
A polarization
B refraction
C diffraction CORRECT
D reflection
Quiz
2. Which is NOT a primary color?
A yellow CORRECT
B red
C green
D blue
Quiz
3. Which is NOT a secondary color?
A yellow C cyan
B red CORRECT D magenta
Quiz
4. If you were going to create a pigment instead of a
dye, which would you use?
A insect extracts C crushed minerals
CORRECT
B plant extracts D animal extracts
