1 / 14

Understanding the Dual Nature of Light in Physics

Explore the characteristics of light in physics, including its dual nature, speed, reflection, refraction, and laws like Snell's and Huygens's principles. Discover how light behaves as both a wave and a particle.

nicolasm
Download Presentation

Understanding the Dual Nature of Light in Physics

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. CH. 35 Light Kennesaw State University Physics 2213

  2. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation • The light wave is composed of electric as well as magnetic fields perpendicular to each other and the motion of this wave is perpendicular to both of these fields.

  3. Light • Energy of a photon: h = Planck’s constant = 6.63 x 10-34 J.s • Light has dual nature (wave/particle)

  4. Light Particle Nature http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6114/1576.full (Example) Photoelectric Effect:

  5. Other Characteristics of Light • Light is quantized • Frequency and wavelength can change and relate via equation: • Light has speed (“c”) of 3.00 x 108 m/s

  6. Electromagnetic Spectrum

  7. Speed of Light • In a vacuum: • In a medium: Where n = index of refraction • Examples: Vacuum n= 1.00 • Air n= 1.01 • Water n= 1.33 • Glass n= 1.50 • Diamond n= 2.10

  8. Reflection Of Light • When light hits a surface, the angle between the incident ray and the normal to the surface is called the angle of incidence • When the incident ray hits a reflecting surface, the angle between the reflected ray and the normal to the reflecting surface is called the angle of reflection • The angle of incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection

  9. Refraction Of Light • When a ray of light is incident on the interphase of two different materials, the ray gets refracted when it enters a new medium. • The refracted ray makes an angle of refraction with the normal to the refracting surface. • If light travels from lighter to denser medium, the refracted ray bends towards the normal. • If light ray travels from denser to lighter medium, the refracted ray moves away from the normal.

  10. Snell’s Law • Snell’s Law of Refraction Equation:

  11. Snell’s Law Critical Angle

  12. Huygens’s Principle: • Every point on a wave-front may be considered a source of secondary spherical wavelets which spread out in the forward direction at the speed of light. The new wave-front is the tangential surface to all of these secondary wavelets. • The direction of propagation of the wave is always perpendicular to the surface of the wave-front at each point.

  13. Huygens's Principle Applied to Reflection Angle of Incidence i = Angle of Reflection r

  14. Huygens's Principle Applied to Refraction

More Related