Wave Properties of Light

Important Vocabulary  Reflection  Refraction  Diffraction

What do you see? Why?

Mirage  Occurs when a layer of hot air lies right above the ground.  Light can move through hot air faster than through colder air above  This causes a bending of light rays, refracted images of objects can be seen

Refraction  Refraction : bending of waves caused by a change in their speed when they move from one medium to another  Amount of bending depends on the speeds of light in both materials  The greater the difference in speed of light in the 2 materials, the more the light is bent  Examples:  Sparkling diamond

Reflection  Reflection occurs when a wave strikes an object and bounces off  Occurs with all types of waves (electromagnetic, sound, water)  The beam that bounces off the mirror is called the reflected beam

Diffraction and Interference  Diffraction: bending of waves around a barrier  Electromagnetic Waves, sound and water can all be diffracted  Water – bend around you as your swim  Important in the transfer of radio waves  Longer radio waves (AM radio stations) easier to diffract than FM