15.4HowLightBehaves-ruthedradan.pptVIP

15.4 How Light Behaves The study of light is called optics. By understanding how light behaves, scientists have learned to design a variety of optical instruments that aid in the study of the universe. For example, microscopes enable us to examine extremely small objects, such as single-celled organisms. With telescopes, we can observe distant but very large objects, such as galaxies and planets. Optics also enables us to understand vision. The colors of the sky, the sparkle of a diamond, and many other parts of the everyday world. 15.4.1 Illumination A body that gives off light is called luminous, like all those glow-in-the-dark toys, and a body that gives off light when it is heated is called incandescent, like the filament in a light bulb. A body is illuminated when you can see it because it reflects light towards your eyes. A star, the pixels of your computer screen, and the gas in a flourescent light are luminous. Why? Because they give off light but not due to heating. The filament of a bulb and molten lava are incandescent because they give off light due to heating. The moon and your book do not give off any light, but they are illuminated by reflected light from the sun or from your lamp. Radiant Flux – the amount of energy radiated in a unit of time by an electromagnetic wave source. Luminous Flux (F) – the electromagnetic radiation in only the visible range of wavelengths. It is measured in lumen (lm) Illuminance (E) – the luminous flux per square meter and is measured in lm/m2 or lux. Luminous Intensity (I) of a source in a particular direction, using the unit candela (cd). One cd is equal to 1 lumen/steradian. The steradian is the unit of solid angle, given by A/R2 where A is the area of the sphere and R is the radius. 15.4.2 Reflection Refract – change direction. Transparent (materials) – lets light rays pass through it without mixing them up. Translucent (materials) – allows rays pass through it, but it mixes them up so that you ca