Light and Optics Review

What is Light?

Understand the basics of light, including that it’s a form of energy and it does not have a mass or take up space

Know the different forms energy can take and be able to tell the energy conversions that are taking place in different scenarios

Know the difference between natural and artificial light sources

Know the basics of how incandescent light bulbs work and how its efficiency compares to other artificial light sources.

Know that chemiluminescence is light that is produced from a chemical reaction

Know the difference between luminous and non-luminous objects and be able to give examples of each

Know the meaning of transparent, translucent and opaque and be able to identify what category a given material falls into. 

Understand how shadows are made and how this fits into the ray model of light and how the size of shadows can be changed

Reflection

Know what reflection is and understand the meaning of key terms that are important to reflection such as incident ray, reflected ray, normal, angle of incidence and angle of reflection

Know the law of reflection and be able to apply it to solve for the angle of incidence or reflection in a given scenario

Understand that concave mirrors cause light to converge which results in an enlarged image that can be erect or inverted depending on the object’s position 

Understand that a convex mirror causes light to diverge which results in a diminished erect image. 

Refraction

Know what refraction is and that it occurs when light travels at an angle between two mediums with different optical densities because light travels more slowly in optically dense mediums

Understand the meaning of key terms that are important to refraction such as incident ray, reflected ray, normal, angle of incidence and angle of refraction

Know that when light travels from a lower to a higher density that it will bend TOWARDS the normal line as it slows down

Know that when light travels from a higher to a lower density that it will bend AWAY from the normal line as it speeds up

Understand the role refraction plays in mirages and “heat haze”

Know that convex lenses cause light to converge. These lenses are used to correct eyes that are too short resulting in being far-sightedness (hyperopia)

Know that concave lenses cause light to diverge. These lenses are used to correct eyes that are too long resulting in being near-sightedness (myopia)

Know the parts of the human eye and their function including the cornea, aqueous humor, iris, pupil, lens, ciliary muscle, vitreous humor, optic nerve and retina

Understand how the eye is able to focus on objects at different distances by changing the shape of the lens and that this is called accommodation.

Be able to compare the human eye to a camera and to be able to relate parts of the eye to parts in a camera

I can explain the basic principles and components in reflecting and refracting telescopes and that they serve to magnify objects far away

I can explain the basic principles and components in binoculars and that it contains reflecting prisms to allow for shorter magnifying tubes

I can explain the basic principles and components in a compound microscope