PHYSICS MIRRORS/LENS

Physics

Law of Reflection

the angle of incidence and the angle of reflection are equal to each other

Incident Ray

A ray of light that strikes a surface before being reflected.

Normal Ray

the line perpendicular to the surface

Reflected Ray

the ray bounced off the surface of the mirror

Light will bend towards the normal when…

the second medium has a larger index of refraction than the first

n1<n2

Light will bend away from the normal when…

the second medium has a smaller index of refraction than the first

n1>n2

Snell’s law /equation

snell’s law describes how light changes direction when passing between 2 materials with different refractive indexes

equation: n1sin1=n2sin2

When total internal reflection occurs…

light moves from a more dense medium to a less dense medium

or

the medium where light travels slowest to fastest

Critical Angle

the angle of incidence that causes light to refract at an angle of 90 degrees

how our eyes receive an image

eyes produce a real and inverted image

Concave mirrors (image produced)

real or virtual image

Reduced, magnified or same size

Positive focal point

Convex mirror

virtual image

Upright

Reduced

negative focal point

convex lens (converging)

virtual or real

upright or inverted

reduced or magnified

concave lens (diverging)

upright

reduced

virtual image

negative focal point