Light, Shadow & Reflection
Light, Shadow & Reflection
Light, Shadow & Reflection
What is light?
Light is produced by luminous objects, such as fires, electric lamps and stars like
the Sun. The light that we can see is called visible light, but there is also light
that we cannot see, including ultraviolet light and infrared light.
Features of light:
a) Light is a form of radiation
b) Light travels in straight lines
c) Light can travel through empty spaces
d) Light is the fastest thing there is. In space its speed is 300 000 km/s
Source of Light
Natural
Natural light sources include the following.
Sun, lightening, glowing rocks (lava from volcanoes) and flames.
Some plants and animals give off light (glow worms and some deep sea fish).
Human-made
There are a lot of sources of human made light, here are some of them:
candles, light bulbs (in torches, around the house), televisions, fireworks.
Shadow:
The shadow is the darker region where the light is blocked. Light travels in
straight lines, so it can not reach this region.
Why the shadow formed by a flying airplane/bird is not formed on the earth?
We cannot see shadow because the umbra is formed close to the object and the
penumbra is too large and too faint to be visible.
Reflection of light: Sending back of light by objects is called reflection of light.
a) Regular reflection: When a beam of light falls on a smooth surface, all the
rays of the beam are reflected in only one direction. This is called regular
reflection.
http://www.exploratorium.edu/science_explorer