1. The History of Light & Optics

2. What do we Know? Light What things do you know about “Light” all ready? properties of light What can you tell me about the properties of light?

3. History of Light Open up your textbooks to page 178 - 181 As we read through the next couple of pages, think about how our knowledge of light has evolved and how the evolution has lead to new discoveries in our present day?

4. History of Light Pythagoreans believed that light came from our eyes and that where we looked dictated where light was and what we could see This theory was obviously wrong because then why couldn’t we see in the dark ?

5. History of Light Euclid suggested that light traveled in a straight line

6. History of Light Ptolemy added that light reflected off of objects to our eyes which allowed us to see them

7. History of Light Al – Haytham took the above knowledge and figured out how our eye absorbed light reflected to them in order to see

8. History of Light Newton was able to show how white light was a mixture of several different colors of light

9. Today’s Understanding Today we know that light has certain properties: The properties of light are:  Light can be reflected  Light travels in straight lines  Light can be bent  Light is a form of energy  Light has a top speed