Spherical mirrors

Now, we are in a position to proceed further and learn about spherical mirrors.

• Spherical Mirrors

There are mainly two types of Spherical mirrors, which are as follows...

1. Concave Mirror

A concave mirror or a converging mirror has a reflecting surface which bulges inwards. They reflect light inward to one focal point. They are used to focus light and show different images types depending on the object and the mirror. These mirrors are called converging because they tend to collect light which falls on them.They are used to provide a magnified and inverted image of the object. Here are some examples....

Concave mirrors are mainly used to obtain Real, Magnified and Inverted images.

   2. Convex Mirror or diverging mirror

A Convex mirror is a spherical reflecting surface or any reflecting surface fashioned into a sphere in which its bulging side faces the source of light. the term " diverging mirror " is based on the mirror's behaviour of making rays diverge upon reflection. So when you direct a beam of light on a convex mirror, the mirror will allow the initial parallel rays that make up the beam to diverge after striking the reflective  surface.

So, this was all about spherical mirrors.

~lightyear

Refraction and Diffraction

Well, here we are for learning about Refraction and one more fact about property of light...

• Refraction

Refraction is the bending of light due to a change in the medium from which it passes through. It is essentially a surface phenomenon. Due to the change in medium, the velocity of the wave changes but its frequency remains constant.this is most commonly observed when a wave passes from one medium to another at any angle rather than right angle or no angle.

Here are the images of Refraction....

We always encounter this situation. Due to Refraction the straw seems to bend on itself but its an illusion rather magic.

As you can see here clearly, the image of the bridge seems to have bend due to differing 3D drops of water.

• Diffraction

Diffraction refers to the phenomenon which occurs when a wave encounters an obstacle. In classical physics, diffraction is described as the apparent bending of waves around small obstacles and the spreading out of waves past small openings.

Heres a spider web, in which due to diffraction, we can see some colours in it which is proved with some theory by scientists.

This is diffraction by a double slit. The waves when interact with the edge of the slits diffract and thus take another deviated path and the waves which are in contact with the surface of the slits show Refraction.

Well, this was all about Refraction and Diffraction !!!!!

              ~lightyear

Reflection

Well, as said we will be first learning about Reflection and Refraction.......

• Reflection

Reflection occurs when light bounces off objects.  How much reflection depends upon how even the surface is.  If the surface is rough, the light scatters.  If the surface is smooth and flat, the light will bounce off it at equal angles.  That is why a flat mirror reflects a good likeness of the object being reflected.

Well, there are Laws of Reflection, which are as follows...

1. The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection.
2. the incident ray, the normal ray and the emergent ray, all lie on the same plane in any conditions.

Look at the images below............

Now, the first image is of the light reflecting through a plain, smooth and shiny surface while the second image is of light reflecting from a crooked, uneven and crumbly surface.

It is this factor which enables us to see light which is reflected from the objects we see in our surroundings.

So this was all about reflection....In the next post I will be telling you all about Refraction!

~lightyear

Introduction

Well, here we are going to discuss about various aspects of Light like Reflection, Refraction and dispersion of light.We are also going to learn about lenses and mirrors.

              
 If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we could never know it was dark."

                                                         - C.S. lewis