1. Chap 16-1
Light Fundamentals

2. What is Light?
A transverse electromagnetic wave

3. What is Light? A small part of the electromagnetic spectrum
The part which stimulates the retina of the human eye
Visible light has wavelengths nm
RED
Longer λ
Lower f
Lower E
BLUE
Shorter λ
Higher f
Higher E

4. How does light interact with matter?
Light does not require matter (no medium) for transmission
BUT if light does pass through matter
Light travels in a straight line through a
Vacuum or a
Uniform medium

5. Ray Model
A ray is a straight line that represents the path of a narrow beam of light
ignores the wave nature of light
a useful model in analyzing reflection and refraction (ray diagrams)

6. Speed of Light Before 17th century: light thought to be instantaneous
Galileo: thought speed of light was finite but could not measure it
Ole Roemer (~1700)
through measurements of the period of Io, a moon of Jupiter,
Calculated that light took 22 min to cross the diameter of Earth’s orbit
Calculated speed of light at 2.2 x 108 m/s (75% of true value)

7. Roemer’s Method for calculating the speed of light:
In 1675, the Danish astronomer Ole Roemer noticed, while observing Jupiter's moons,
that the times of the eclipses of the moons of Jupiter seemed to depend on the relative
positions of Jupiter and Earth. If Earth was close to Jupiter, the orbits of her moons
appeared to speed up. If Earth was far from Jupiter, they seemed to slow down.
Reasoning that the moons orbital velocities should not be affected by their separation,
he deduced that the apparent change must be due to the extra time for light to travel
when Earth was more distant from Jupiter. Using the commonly accepted value for the
diameter of the Earth's orbit, he came to the conclusion that light must have traveled at
200,000 Km/s. This is 75% of the accepted value.

8. Albert Michelson
Michelson (1926) made a more precise measurement for speed of light, c with the Michelson-Morely Experiment:

9. Michelson Won the Nobel Prize Successfully measured the speed of light
c = 3.00 x 108 m/s in a vacuum
this is a “defined value” for light
Now objects lengths are determined by how long it takes for light to travel from one end to the other
Examples:
Definition of the meter
Light year

10. Sources of Light A luminous body emits light waves.
An illuminated body reflects light waves produced by an outside source.
Incandescent: light produced by a hot body.

11. Luminous Flux The rate at which visible light is emitted by a source
Represented by the letter P
The unit is the lumen, abbreviated lm
A typical 100 W light bulb emits 1750 lm

12. Illuminance The rate at which light falls on a surface
Represented by the letter E
The unit is lumens per square meter,
lm/m2 = lux, abbreviated lx

13. Consider a 100-W light bulb in the middle of a sphere
Consider a 100-W light bulb in the middle of a sphere. What is the illumination (illuminance) of the sphere?

14. Inverse-Square Relationship:
Note that illumination is proportional to 1/r2
Inverse-Square Relationship:
Light from a point source spreads out
over an area proportional to the
square of the distance from the source:

16. Luminous Intensity
the luminous flux that falls on 1 m2 of a sphere 1m in radius.
Unit: candela, cd which is the SI unit of light intensity.
Luminous Intensity = P/4 π

17. A lamp is moved from 30 cm to 90 cm above the pages of a
book. Compare the illumination on the book before and after
the lamp is moved.

18. 7. What is the illumination on a surface 3.0 m below a
150 Watt incandescent lamp that emits a luminous flux
of 2275 lm?

19. A 64 cd point souce of light is 3.0 m above the surface
of a desk. Wht is the illumination on the desk’s surface in lux?

20. The illumination on a tabletop is 20 lx. The lamp providing
the illumination is 4.0 m above the table.
What is the intensity of the lamp?

21. A public school law requires a minimum illumination of
160 lx on the surface of each student’s desk. An architect’s
specifications call for classroom lights to be located 2.0 m
above the desks. What is the minimum luminous flux the
lights must deliver?

22. End 16-1