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Physics Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| continuous spectrum | a luminous object produces all produces all possible wavelengths of visible light. |
| spectrograph | a photograph, printout, or other display of a spectrum produced by a spectroscope |
| light-year | the distance light travels in a year, approximately 9.5 trillion kilometers |
| intensity | a light source's power, the rate at which it radiates energy |
| candela | the unit of light intensity |
| inverse-square law | a situation encountered many times in physics |
| incandescence | the light produced by materials heated until they glow, it occurs when atoms and electrons rapidly vibrate with thermal energy |
| fluorescence | occurs when a substance radiates visible light as it absorbs a higher-energy source is removed |
| phosphorescence | emit visible light after the energy source is removed, watch dials and glow-in-the-dark stickers are examples |
| coherent light | extremely bright and has many uses in medicine,industry communications, and the military |
| cold light | produced from chemical reactions at temperatures far below those required for incandescence |
| primary hue | the basic color of light: red,yellow, orange,green |
| additive primary colors | red,blue,green |
| subtractive primary colors | cyan,yellow, and magenta |
| complementary color | subtractive primary colors |
| saturation | the brightness of a color |
| value | how dark or light the color appears |
| beam | made of lots of photons moving in the same direction |
| ray | a line with an arrowhead showing direction |
| diffuse reflection | reflection off the surface |
| specular reflections | reflection off a smooth surface |
| incident ray | the light ray approaches a reflective surface |
| reflected ray | the outgoing ray |
| law of reflection | when a light ray reflects off the surface, the angle of the incident ray, equals the angle of the incident ray |
| plane mirror | a standard bathroom mirror |
| virtual image | an image is seen in a position where no real objects exist |
| real image | formed when the rays of light from a source are made to converge or come together by a focusing optical device |
| convave mirror | the deepest point of the dished surface is the center of the mirror |
| principal optical axis | an imaginary line normal to the mirror's surface at this point |
| principal focus | when light rays fall on the mirror's surface, they reflect according to the law of reflection and converge on a point in the front of the mirror |
| focal point | converge to a point in the center of the mirror |
| focal length | the principal focus lies on the optical axis at a distance from the mirror's center |
| convex mirror | a mirror that cannot produce a real image that is also bulged outward |
| optical destiny | the speed of light in a material is related to the material's destiny |
| index of refraction | the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in the material |
| total internal refraction | if the angle of incidence is increased |
| critical angle of incidence | the angle of incidence where a phenomena begins |
| fiber optics | an important growing field of technology with diverse applications |
| light depression | a beam of light enters a piece of glass, no matter what it's shaped, some depression takes place |
| lens | a disk of optically clear material that refracts light to produce a real or virtual image |
| converging lens | collects the incoming rays of light and focuses them at a point |
| diverging lens | spreads the rays of light apart similar to a convex mirror |
| meniscus lenses | eyeglass lenses, both sides are curved in the same direction |
Created by:
Luke Meterko
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