Physics of Light Review Sheet

Physics of Light Review Sheet

© Supercharged Science

Great job on our Physics of Light sessions this month! We’ve covered A LOT in a short amount

of time, so I wanted to be sure you had a chance to really be impressed with the amount you’ve

learned and how much understand about the world of physics!

Here’s what you can do now. First, I’ve put together a vocabulary list for you to review. If you’d

like to, write each of these on an index card (make your own from sheets of paper). Don’t worry

about the definitions just yet.

Next, let’s do a Spelling Bee! Grab a parent or sibling and ask them to test you on how to spell

each one. If there are any that are just too hard (or too easy), remove them from the deck.

If you’re the type of kid that has a lot of energy for movement, then you’ll like this tip: When I

ask kids to spell words, I also have them bounce up and down on beds or trampolines or using a

jump rope to really get them associated with the words.

Ready? Go ahead and work your way through this list.

Vocabulary:

Frequency

Interference

Coherence

Concave lenses

Convex lenses

Radio waves

Microwaves

Infrared

Visible light

Ultraviolet (UV)

X-rays

Gamma rays

Filters

Intensity

LASER

Lenses

Light

Speed of Light

Index of refraction

Photoelectric effect

Polarization

Refraction

Reflection

Scattering

Dispersion

Wavelength

Electromagnetic Spectrum



Physics of Light Lab Practical

Now that you’ve got the words down, let’s see how much you really understand about each

one. Instead of writing definitions (that will come later), let’s do a “Lab Practical”. This is how

we’ll really get a sense of how much you understand and if there are any gaps.

Take your stack of words and hand them to someone else. (You can do this by yourself if you

have to, but it’s a lot more fun to do this with a friend, a family member, or even as a “dinner

show” after dinner that you can do for the family.

Now, when this person shows you a card, you have only a minute or two to demonstrate what

that word actually means. In some cases, this will be easy, but in other cases, you may need to

set up a quick experiment or sketch something out. Try to give three separate, different

examples of each one.

The point is to think about how you would demonstrate to someone else about the word on

the card, just like you were the teacher in the room. How would you explain it so they really

understand? Go ahead and do this now for as many of these as you can.

Frequency

Interference

Coherence

Concave lenses

Convex lenses

Radio waves

Microwaves

Infrared

Visible light

Ultraviolet (UV)

X-rays

Gamma rays

Filters

Intensity

LASER

Lenses

Light

Speed of Light

Index of refraction


Polarization

Refraction

Reflection

Scattering

Dispersion

Wavelength




Now it’s time to write actual definitions for each of these. I put together my slides for the

month in this review sheet so you can refer to them if you need to. I am more interested in

making sure you understand a concept and can explain it in to your own words rather than

memorizing a definition I give you, so let’s see how you do before you peek at my slides.

You can write the definitions below in the space provided (drawing pictures is perfectly fine

also), or you can add them to the back of the cards you created back at the beginning.

Primary Colors of Light

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Frequency

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Interference

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Coherence

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________



Concave lenses

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Convex lenses

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Radio waves

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Microwaves

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Infrared

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Visible light

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________



Ultra Violet (UV)

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

X-rays

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Gamma rays

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Filters

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Intensity

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

LASER

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________



Lenses

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Light

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Speed of Light

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Index of refraction

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________


_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Polarization

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________



Refraction

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Reflection

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Scattering

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Dispersion

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Wavelength

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________


_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________



Definitions

The three primary colors of light are red, blue, and green. Red and green light mixed together

make yellow light. Prisms un-mix light into its colors (wavelengths).

Concave lenses work to make objects smaller (door peep hole), and are curved inward like a

cave.

Convex lenses make them larger (magnifying lenses), and have a ‘bump’ in the middle you can

feel with your fingers.

Electromagnetic waves are waves that can travel through space. Unlike sound waves (which

require a medium in order to transport their energy), electromagnetic (light) waves are able to

transport energy through the vacuum of space by vibrating electric charge. Electromagnetic

waves have both an electric and magnetic component. The frequencies (wavelengths) these

waves cover is called the electromagnetic spectrum (see next paragraph).

The amount of energy a photon has determines whether it’s a particle or a wave. Photons with

the lowest amounts of energy and longest wavelengths (some are the size of football fields) are

radio waves. The next step up are microwaves, which have more energy than radio waves. IR

has slightly more energy, and visible light (the rainbow you can see with your eyes) has more

energy and shorter wavelengths. Ultraviolet (UV) light has more energy than visible, and x-rays

have even more energy than UV, x-rays are even higher energy and require special protection

when working with this wavelength, and finally the deadly gamma rays have the most amount

of energy.

Filters can be used to block certain wavelengths.

Intensity, or brightness, is the amount of photons (packets of light) you have in a certain

amount of space. A flashlight has less intensity than a car headlight.

LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Most lasers are

monochromatic (one color). Lasers are concentrated beams of light, and are illuminated by

small particles (like smoke and dust).

Lenses work to bend light in a certain direction (refraction). A lens is a curved piece of glass or

plastic that changes the speed of the light. Lenses have the same effect on lasers as on light

beams.



Light is energy that can travel through space. Light can be defined by four things: intensity (how

bright), frequency (or wavelength), polarization (the direction of the electric field), and phase

(time shift).

Objects can either be a light source (like the sun) or reflect light (like the moon).

Light can change speeds, but the maximum light speed is through a vacuum (186,000 miles per

second). Light changes speeds when it passes through a different material (like water, glass, or

fog).

Depending on the optical density of the material, light will bend by different amounts. Glass is

optically denser than water. Water is more optically dense than air.

When two beams of light are out of phase with each other, it’s like playing a G and A on the

piano. This is called phase shift.

Blue and UV light eject electrons from metal plates, but red light does not (photoelectric

effect).

Polarization has to do with the direction of the electric field. Your sunglasses are polarizing

filters, meaning that they only let light of a certain direction in. The direction that the light is

polarized has to do with the electromagnetic field.

When a beam of light hits a window, it bends and changes speed (refraction). Technically, the

wavelength (color) changes but the frequency stays the same. In order for this to happen, the

speed of light must also change.

Razor-edge slits create interference patterns. Slits are skinny holes that allow light to pass

through. Scientists use slits to filter out all other light sources except the one they want to use

in their experiment.

When you change the wavelength, you change the color of the light. The wavelength ()

equals the speed of light (c) divided by the frequency (), or = c / .

Physics of Light Review Sheet

Documents

Transcript of Physics of Light Review Sheet