Discovery, Theory or Idea: Light consisted of beams
and these beams came from a person's eyes in
straight lines
Euclid
Time: 1st century AD
Discovery, Theory or Idea: discovered equal angles of reflection
When you shine a beam of light onto a flat mirror, the angle
between the incoming beam and mirror is equal to the angle
between the reflected beam and mirror
Al-Haytham
Time: A.D 1000
Discovery, Theory or Idea: First one to
accurately describe how vision works. He
showed that light bounces off objects and
then travels to the eyes. As soon as this
theory came along, Pythagoras' theory was
abandoned.
Sir Issac Newton
Time: 1666
Discovery, Theory or Idea: By shining light
through a prism, Newton showed that white
light is actually a mixture of different colors
of light
Alberta A. Michaelson
Time
Discovery, Theory or Idea: He
discovered the speed of light using
a mirror/mountain experiment.
Speed=distance/time
Properties of Light
Light Travels in Straight Lines
Light can be Reflected
Light can Bend (Refract)
Light is a Form of Energy
Natural Light Sources
Things like the sun, starts, the moon. The sun gives off light and
heat from the radiation,
Artificial Light Sources
Things like lightbulb and lamps
Luminous things give off light, the light bounces off
of object and hit our eyes
Optical Instruments
Optical Instruments are devices that process light waves. They enhance
images, like microscopes, telescopes, etc.
Same thing with near sighted glasses, they enhance the world around you for you to be able to see far away.
Transparent
Materials that can transmit light; light travels straight
through them
Translucent
Materials that allow some light to pass
through, but not all.
Opaque
Materials that don't allow any light to pass through.
The Law of Reflection
the law of reflection states
that when a ray of light
reflects off a surface, the angle
of incidence is equal to the
angle of reflection
Plane Mirrors
are used as looking glass
Concave Mirror
a reflecting
mirror, they
reflect light
inward
reflect light outwards,
they are not used to
focus light
light refracts
differently depending
on the density. It can
also change speeds
when going through
water, glass, air, etc.
double convex lenses have
focal points on both sides of
the lens.
double concave lenses
are used in beam
expansion, image
reduction, or light
projection applications.
Electromagnetic Spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all
types of EM radiation. Radiation is energy that travels
and spreads out as it goes.
Human Eye
Light passes through the front of your eye (the cornea) to
the lens. The cornea and the lens help to focus the light
rays onto the back of the eye (the retina). The cells in the
retina absorb and covert the light to electrochemical
impulses which are transferred along the optic nerve and
then to the brain.
Traditional Photography
Requires photographic film (negative) and
photosensitive paper, these photos can fade
over time as the chemicals react and change.
Digital Photography
Picture is divided into small elements called pixels, the image quality depends on the number of pixels. These pictures require a CCD.