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Light Notes

Light is a form of energy that enables vision and consists of photons. It can travel through a vacuum at about 300 million m/s. There are natural sources like the sun and stars, and man-made sources like light bulbs. Objects are luminous if they produce their own light and non-luminous if they do not. Materials can be transparent, translucent, or opaque depending on how much light they transmit.

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Godfrey Okoth
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30 views

Light Notes

Light is a form of energy that enables vision and consists of photons. It can travel through a vacuum at about 300 million m/s. There are natural sources like the sun and stars, and man-made sources like light bulbs. Objects are luminous if they produce their own light and non-luminous if they do not. Materials can be transparent, translucent, or opaque depending on how much light they transmit.

Uploaded by

Godfrey Okoth
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Light

Nature of light
• Light is a form of energy that enables us to see our surroundings.
Light is made of photons which is the smallest unit of the visible light
spectrum.
• The visible light spectrum is a small part of the electromagnetic
radiation that the human eye can view. In simple words, visible light is
a mixture of all 7 colors of the rainbow.
• Unlike sound waves, light waves can travel through a vacuum (empty
space). They do not need a substance to travel through, but they can
travel through transparent and translucent substances.
• Light travels extremely quickly. Its maximum speed is approximately
300,000,000 m/s, when it travels through a vacuum.
Sources of light
• A light source is an object that emits its own light. Hot objects such as
flames and the Sun are light sources.
• A torch bulb has a hot fi lament, so it is also a light source. Some light
sources are not hot – for example, a computer screen.

Quiz 1:
1. Give four examples of objects that are light sources
Natural and Man-Made Source of Light
• There are two sources of light;
1. natural sources of light
2. man-made sources of light
• Natural lights are given off by nature. For
example, the sun, stars, fireflies, lightning, etc.
• Man-made lights are artificially made. For
example, bulbs, candles, flashlights, table
lamps, television, etc.
• NB
If the object gets hot when emitting light they are
called hot sources of light. It is also known as
incandescence. For example, the sun, a burning
lamp, an electric bulb, etc.
If the object doesn’t get hot when producing light it
is known as a cold source of light. It is also called
luminescence. For example, fireflies, LEDs, and
some algae.
Luminous and non-luminous
• Sources of light can be classified as either luminous or non-luminous
sources.
• Luminous sources are objects that emit their light and are capable of
reflecting light to our eyes. For example, the sun, stars, and electric
lights are all luminous objects.
• Non-luminous sources are objects that cannot emit light by
themselves. For example, the moon, paper, toys, cars, books, etc.
How we see objects
• We can see objects because light travels from them into our eyes.
Luminous objects make their own light, e.g. the Sun, a light bulb and
a candle. Most of the objects do not make their own light. We can see
them because they reflect light to our eyes.
Transmission of light
• Transmission of light is the moving of electromagnetic waves through
a material.
• This transmission can be reduced, or stopped, when light is reflected
off the surface or absorbed by the molecules in the material.
• Based on transmission of light, materials can be classified into:
1. Transparent
2. Translucent
3. Opaque
Transparent material
• A material that allows light to pass through and
we can see through it is called a transparent
material.
• Since a transparent material doesn’t block the
light, there is no shadow formation.
• Sometimes a transparent material is referred as
see-through material. For example clear glass
windowpane, water, clean air, lenses, clear
plastics, prism, diamond, etc.
Translucent material
• A material that allows light to pass through
partially but we cannot see through it clearly is
called a translucent material.
• Since a translucent material doesn’t block the
light completely, there are faint shadow forms.
• Sometimes a translucent material is referred as
a partially see-through material. For example,
frosted glass, butter paper, tinted glass, wax
paper, vegetable oil etc.
Opaque material
• A material that does not allow light to pass
through it and we cannot see through it is
called an opaque material.
• Since an opaque material completely block
the light, there are dark shadow forms
behind the object. For example, wooden
doors, stone, metals, concrete, etc.

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