Light and Optics

Sir Isaac Newton

Light is comprised of colored particles. Light is a mixture of various colors having different refractivity.

Christiaan Huygens

Light is a wave. Discovered Saturn’s rings, nebula of Orion.

Thomas Young

Proof of the wave theory of light. Young’s Experiment

James Clerk Maxwell

Predicted the existence of electromagnetic waves.

Albert Einstein

Light is a photon. Dual properties of wave and particle.

Geometric Optics

Study of the propagation of light.

Wave front

locus of all adjacent points at which the phase of vibration of a physical quantity associated with the wave Is the same.

Rays

The direction in which light propagates. Path of the particles.

Specular Reflections

Reflection on a smooth surface.

Diffuse Reflection

reflection of light from a smooth surface.

Refraction

The bending of light as it passes from one transparent substance into another.

Wavelets

Spherical secondary waves from old wave front.

Dispersion

The index of refraction of a given material varies depending on the wavelength of light passing through the material.

The Visible Spectrum

The colors produced when light is passed through a prism.

Scattering

The light coming from the sun is absorbed and is reradiated in a variety of direction.

Brewster’s Law

Reflected light is completely polarized perpendicular to the plane of incidence.