Even more important, though only touched on in this book, is the wave phenomenon of quantum mechanics, built into the fabric of our space and time. The physics classroom tutorial presents physics concepts and principles in an easytounderstand language. Sir isaac newton believed that light was a stream of particles. Like all electromagnetic waves, light can travel through a. Light, reflection, and color characteristics of light light is an electromagnetic wave. Waves a wave is a disturbance that pppg gropagates through space and time, usually with transferrance of energy. Cancellation and addition of diffracted waves results in striped pattern in contrast to what would be expected by particles. The wave nature of light was first illustrated through experiments on diffraction and interference. The physics of waves version date february 15, 2015. Transverse waves one type of mechanical wave is a trans.
Light waves vce the question of what is light was a matter of great debate during the 17th and 18th century. The electromagnetic waves actually interact with the atoms or unbound electrons which then reradiate the energy, forming a new wave at the same frequency. In the study of optics, it is common to decompose complicated light fields into superpositions of pure sinusoidal waves. While a mechanical wave exists in a medium which on deformation is capable of producing elastic restoring forces waves ofproducing elastic restoring forces, waves of. Properties of light university of maryland college of. It is simpler to visualize a wave by drawing the wave fronts, which are usually taken to be the crests of the wave. Since these waves consist of oscillating electric and magnetic fields which can exist in empty space, light can travel through a vacuum. Color and light not in textbook sad but true cse486, penn state robert collins physics of light and color light is electromagnetic radiation different colors correspond to different wavelengths. As shown below, an electromagnetic wave is a transverse wave consisting of mutually perpendicular oscillating electric and magnetic fields.
Propagation of light through a slit demonstrates wave properties. State and apply the relation among wavelength, frequency and speed of a. He proposed that light is emitted as a series of waves in a medium called the luminiferous ether. According to wave theory of light, the light is a form of energy which travels through a medium in the form of transverse wave motion.
L1 what is light school of physics faculty of science. Each lesson includes informative graphics, occasional animations and videos, and check your understanding sections that allow the user to practice what is taught. How light travels light waves ks3 physics revision. Describe the dual nature of light, as a continuous wave and a discrete particle photon, and give. Ray diagrams show what happens to light in mirrors and lenses. Electromagnetic waves are ultimately produced by an accelerating charge. How can it make sense to use the same word wave for all these disparate phenomena. I hope to emphasize that the physics of standing waves is the same.
Types of waves 2types of waves 2 plane waves propagation direction w plane waves have a propagation direction and therefore plane wave fronts e. The speed of light in a medium depends upon the nature of medium. Traveling waves appear only after a thorough exploration of onedimensional standing waves. Since light can be analysed as a complex mixture of a huge number of individual. Wave optics describes the connection between waves and rays of light. Properties of light waves, particles and em spectrum interaction with matter absorption re. Free pdf download of hc verma solutions for class 11 physics part1 chapter 17 light waves solved by expert physics teachers on. Christian huygens proposed that light travelled as waves. Intensity of each wavelength specified by amplitude visible light. All the exercise of chapter 17 light waves questions with solutions to help you to revise complete syllabus and score more marks. In previous classes 15a, high school physics, you learned to think about light as rays. Pdf since ancient times, the nature and properties of light have been. Christiaan huygens published his wave theory of light in 1690.