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light definitions
definitions for various keywords of the light part of sound and light topic
Term | Definition |
---|---|
Light | A form of energy that travels by electromagnetic waves |
Reflection | When light bounces off a surface |
Regular Reflection | When light is reflected off smooth surfaces such as a mirror |
Object | Location that the rays of light have come from prior to striking the mirror |
Image | Location from which the rays of light appear to be coming |
Object Distance | Distance between mirror and object |
Image Distance | Distance between mirror and image |
Incident Ray | The ray of light falling onto a mirror from an object or light source |
Normal | An imaginary line radiating perpendicularly from the mirror at the point where the incident ray strikes the mirror |
Reflected Ray | The ray of light bouncing off a mirror |
Angle of Incidence | Angle between the normal and the incident ray |
Angle of Reflection | Angle between the normal and the reflected ray |
Parallax | Relative movement of two objects due to the movement of the observer |
Magnified Image | When the image height is greater than the object height |
Diminished Image | When the image height is less than the object height |
Inverted Image | Image is upside down |
Erect Image | Image is same side up |
Laterally Inverted Image | When the right side of the object is on the left side of the image and vice versa |
Real Image | When light rays actually intersect |
Virtual Image | When light rays appear to intersect |
Refraction of Light | When light bends on passing from one medium to another (light bends towards the normal in a denser substance). |
Total Internal Reflection | When light is reflected back from a boundary between two mediums; it occurs when the light is travelling from the dense into the less dense medium, striking the boundary with an angle of incidence greater than the critical angle |
Spectrum | Range of wavelengths present in the electromagnetic radiation |
Dispersion | The separating out of different wavelengths of light |
luminous | An object that is able to generate its own light source eg sun, bulb, torch. |
Visible light | The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye consisting of ROYGBIV colours. |
Concave Mirror | A mirror that bulges inwards away from the light and magnifies close objects. eg dentist mirror |
Plane Mirror | A mirror that has a flat reflective surface |
Convex Mirror | A mirror that bulges outwards towards the light and makes images appear smaller and upright. Gives wider view eg roadside mirrors |
Law of Reflection | Angle of Incidence equals the angle of reflection on plane mirrors. |
ROYGBIV | dispersion of white light into colours of the rainbow (Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet) in order from least refracted Red light to most refracted Violet light. |