Optics and Light Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards reviewing concepts from a physics lecture on optics and light.

Angle of Reflection

The angle that light coming after reflecting from a plane mirror. It is the same angle as the incident ray measured from the normal.

Virtual Image

An image formed when the rays appear to originate from the object, such as when a person sees themselves in a plane mirror.

Refraction

The bending of a light ray as it passes from one type of material into another at an angle.

Photons

Units of light that have both particle and wave characteristics.

Visible Spectrum

The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that humans can see.

Light Absorption

When an object appears black because it is absorbing all light waves.

Primary Colors

Red, Blue, and Green

Dispersion

The separation of white light into its constituent colors when it passes through a prism or other medium.

Concave Mirror Reflection

Light reflects off a concave mirror and converges.

Electromagnetic Radiation

Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation.