Reflection and refraction

Introduction The velocity of light in vacuum is 3×10⁸ m/s. It travels in a straight line. When light passes through a material, the speed of light alters. The properties of the path of light involve three different principles – reflection, diffraction, and refraction. These properties are essentially included when designing or constructing commercial products and […]

Introduction  Light is one of the most important aspects of life, without which we won’t be able to see anything around us. It is one form of energy that enables us to watch the objects around us. In other words, it is one of the types of electromagnetic radiation that travels through medium or vacuum.

Light has two important characteristics: rectilinear propagation and reflection. In the field of physics, these are two of the most fundamental principles. They explain how light behaves in various situations and how it reacts to various surfaces. The rectilinear propagation of light is covered in depth in this article, as well as a peek of

Introduction The French mathematician named Pierre de Fermat discovered this property of light. Being a kid, we always remember when our teacher used to show us slides on the projector; in the light, we used to make shadows of different animals. This fun thing actually explains a major science phenomenon that is the rectilinear propagation

What is ray optics? Ray optics, commonly known as geometrical optics, are considered light as a ray rather than a wave. This gives us an advantage in the calculation regarding optics. By considering light as a ray, we can use simple geometry to calculate certain properties of light. Using ray optics, we can explain certain

Snell’s law depends on the phenomenon of refraction of light in which light passes from one medium to another medium, and it bends during the process. If light passes from the rarer medium to the denser medium, it will bend towards the normal, perpendicular to the surface. This leads to the formation of the angle

Prism A prism is a polyhedron having five sides and a triangular cross-section. There are two identical parallel triangles opposite each other in a prism. Three rectangular surfaces are also inclined to each other, in addition to the triangles. Prisms are translucent solids that are used to refract light. The refracting surfaces are the two

What is an optical fibre? Optical fibre is a type of data transmission technology that works by sending light pulses down a long fibre, which is usually made of plastic or glass. For optical fibre communication transmission, metal cables are chosen because signals move more safely. Optical fibres are unaffected by electromagnetic interference. The fibre

The dual nature of radiation and matter tells that every object has two natures associated with it i.e,  a wave and particle. It is most commonly known as wave-particle duality. The wave nature of particles came from Maxwell’s equations of electromagnetism and the experiment of generation and detection of electromagnetic waves done by Hertz. J.

Dutch physicist Christiaan Huygens and French physicist Augustine-Jean Fresnel proposed the Huygens-Fresnel Principle, or simply Huygens Principle. Huygens’s principle explains methods of analysing problems related to wave propagation in the Far-field limit and Near-field diffraction and reflection. It states that every point of the wavefront is the source of spherical wavelets created in the process.