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Visible Light week 5
Visible light = all forms of radiation that you are able to see with your eyes
Where does light come from?
Light comes from luminous objects such as the sun and light bulbs. These items
emit light.
Light is transferred by radiation
In order for your to be able to see something, light from that object must enter
your eye
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Light travels in straight lines.
This is called the rectillinear propagation of light!!!
That’s why we cannot see around corners
When you switch on the light in a room at night, the whole room becomes
illuminated because light is emitted from the bulb and radiates out in all
directions
The Pinhole camera
Watch this video on the pinhole camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq43ufMCgbQ
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GRADE 8 PRACTICAL: PINHOLE CAMERA TERM 3
You will be working in groups to make a pinhole camera.
Names of group members:
______________________________ ____________________________
______________________________ ____________________________
LESSON 1
1. Watch some of the following clips on how to make a pinhole camera.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTjzSsk4Lw8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBdkdDi_KEo SHOEBOX CAMERA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=157pbd1MIN8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=214oZMNXgmQ PRINGLES CAN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZxCC-z-Yfk CAMERA
2. Choose whether you will make a shoebox or Pringles can camera.
3. Write down everything you will need to make it and decided who will
bring what. Write It down below:
What we need: Who will bring it:
______________________________ ____________________________
______________________________ ____________________________
______________________________ ____________________________
______________________________ ____________________________
______________________________ ____________________________
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______________________________ ____________________________
______________________________ ____________________________
______________________________ ____________________________
You may practice making a camera at home but you must build your final one
at school.
Draw a fully labelled ray diagram to show how an inverted image is formed in
the camera.
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LESSON 2
1. Bring all your equipment for this lesson.
2. Draw a labelled sketch of what your camera will look like in the block
below.
3. Build your camera
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Marking Rubric
Ray diagram correct 0 1 2 3
All necessary equipment brought to school 0 1 2 3
Complete sketch drawn 0 1 2 3 4
Camera made according to instructions 0 1 2 3 4 5
Neatness of camera 0 1 2
Teamwork 0 1 2 3
TOTAL /20
Ray diagrams
Ray diagrams are drawings that show the path of light.
A ray diagram is a simplified way of showing how light is radiated from a
luminous object
The path and direction of one ray of light is represented by a line with
an arrowhead
Light rays radiate in all directions so a ray diagram only represents a few
of the rays of light that are radiated by the luminous object
Please complete Activity 2 on Page 165
The Speed of Light
300,000 km/ second
If the distance from the Sun to the Earth is 150,000,ooo km, how many
minutes will it take light from the Sun to reach Earth?
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150,000,000 km / 300,000 km/s = 500 seconds = 8 minutes and 20
seconds
Distance
Speed Time
Please complete Activity 3 on Page 165
The Spectrum of light week 6
Visible(white) light is made up of 7 different colours.
Name the colours from which white light is made:
R____________
O____________
Y____________ Colour in your spectrum
G____________
B____________
I_____________
V____________
Light travels in waves
Each colour has a different wavelength and frequency.
Wavelength is the length of a wave pattern
Frequency is the number of waves that pass a certain point in one
second
Red has the longest wavelength and the lowest frequency (error in
textbook on page 167)
Violet has the shortest wavelength and highest frequency
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The primary colours of light are red, green and blue.
Draw fig. 6 on page 166
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Light Refraction
Light bends and changes direction when it moves from one medium to
another e.g. from air to glass and back through air.
This is called refraction
Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Viiolet
The colours that make up white light refract at different angles (that is
why we can see different colours)
White light disperses so that different colours become visible
Use pencil crayons to add colour to the diagram above
Opaque and transparent objects
Three things can happen when light hits a surface:
1. It can be reflected (bounce off)
2. It can be absorbed
3. It can be transmitted
When light hits glass it is transmitted straight through. We say glass is
_________________. E.g. windows, cellophane, clear water, clear plastic
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When a clear image can be seen through the object, it means that all
the light has passed through
Objects that allow some light to pass through but not all are called
transluscent e.g. sandblasted windows / tinted windows.
An _______________ object is an object that does not allow any light to
travel through it e.g. bricks, cardboard, clay, metal and wall paint
Shadows
Shadows are darker areas that form behind opaque objects because the light
is unable to travel through the object
Because light travels in straight lines, an opaque object will either absorb or
reflect some light, but will not allow any light to travel through the object to
the wall or area behind it
The area where light is absent will appear black to the eye
A shadow is cast on the side of the object that faces away from the light
source
Draw fig 10 on page 168 in the block
What you should notice:
When the object is far away from the light source, a smaller amount of
light is blocked and therefore the shadow is smaller
When the object is closer to the light source, more light is blocked and
therefore the shadow is larger
Do Activity 5 on page 168 in the space below
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Absorbtion and Reflection of light - How do we see different colours? Week 7
When light hits a surface, some of
the light is absorbed and the rest is
reflected. It is the reflected light that
reaches our eyes and allows us to
see.
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White light is a mixture of colours. When white light from the sun hits the lady
bird all the colours are absorbed except red. Red light is reflected back to our
eye and we see a red ladybird.
Explain why a leaf is green? _________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Why do black objects appear black? When the light hits a black object all the
colours is absorbed and no light is reflected.
Why does a white object appear white? _______________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
If I shine a blue
light on a red ball, what colour would the ball be? ________________
Why? ________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Transmission of light - Investigate transparent objects
Collect various colours of cellophane.
Look through the cellophane.
1. Why does everything appear to be the same colour as the cellophane you
are looking through? Explain. ________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________
2. If I shine a white light through
blue cellophane, what colour light
will be seen on the other side?
___________________
If I shine a red light through blue
cellophane, what colour light will
be seen on the other side?
_________________________.
Explain your answer.
______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Draw a diagram below to show what happens
3. If I look through red cellophane at the grass. What colour will the grass
appear? ______________________
Why? ___________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Draw a diagram below to show this
Why we see a rainbow
– NOT FOR EXAMS!
Rainbows form when
the water droplets in
the air act as small
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prisms. Light enters the water droplet and is refracted. But when it reaches the
other side it does not leave the water droplet but is reflect back. When it
leaves the droplet is is refracted again
Use pencil crayons to add colour to the diagram
What colour is at the top of the rainbow and what colour is at the bottom?
________________________________________________________________
Does this match the order we see in the diagram above showing how light is
refracted and reflected in a droplet? _________________
How does this happen?
When we see a rainbow, we see a combination of million of raindroplets.
Although each raindrop refracts and reflects all 7 colours, we only see one
colour of light reflected
from each particular
raindrop. This depends on
the angle of the raindrop
from out position.
Therefore, the raindrops
higher up in the sky reflect
red light to us and the rain
drops lewer down reflect
violet light to us
Summary
White light is made up of the 7 colours of the rainbow (red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet)
Luminous objects transmit (give off) light.
Non-luminous objects can still be seen as the reflect light.
Light can be absorbed, reflected or transmitted
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When light is absorbed, we do not see it
When light is reflected, we see it
When light is transmitted, we can see through the object
Light does not travel through opaque substances e.g. you. Light is either
absorbed or reflected by the opaque object
Light travels through transparent substances e.g. glass, water etc.
When an object appears white, all the wavelengths of visible light are
being reflected (none are absorbed)
When an object appears black, all the wavelengths of visible light are
being absorbed (none are reflected)
The colour of an object depends on the colours of light that it reflects.
Do Activity 7 on page 172
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Reflection of Light
Do Activity 8 on page 175
Do Activity 10 on page 176
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Seeing Light week 8
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The Internal structure of the eye
Cornea
Protective front covering (from dust, germs etc.)
Completely transparent
Optic nerve
Transmits information about the image from the retina to the
brain
Pupil
Hole in the centre of the iris
When the pupil becomes larger, more light can enter the eye;
when the pupil becomes smaller, less light can enter the eye
It therefore controls the amount of light that enters the eye
Retina
Sensory layer at the back of the eye where all the light that enters
the eye gathers and where the image forms
Specialised receptor cells are stimulated by specific frequencies
(colours)
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Do Activity 11 on page 178
How do we see colours that are not part of the visible light spectrum?
All colours that are not one of the 7 colours of the rainbow cannot be
represented by a wave with a specific image
They form when different combinations of these 7 colours reach the eye
E.g. Pink
White light shines on an object that absorbs green and reflects all
the other colours
All the colours except green shine on the retina
Your brain interprets this as pink
If more blue light and less yellow light reflect off the substance
onto your retina, the brain will interpret a darker shade of pink
If less blue light and more yellow light reflect off the substance
onto your retina, the brain will interpret a lighter shade of pink
The Image formed on the Retina is actually Upside-down
All images formed on the retina are upside down., when the information
is sent to the brain it not only processes the colours and shapes from the
information but it turns the image the right way up.
Do activity 12 on page 180
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Visual illusions form when an
image is presented in such a
way that some information
does not go through to the
brain
The brain does not have
enough information to
interpret exactly what the
eye is seeing and processes
the image incorrectly
Refraction of Light
week 9
Do Activity 14 on page 183
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Refraction through a triangular prism
Using your textbook on page 184, draw how light travels through a prism in the
block below. (fig. 37)
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Refraction through a lens
The convex lens refracts the light The concave lens refracts the light
rays inwards. We say that the light rays outwards. We say that the
rays converge. light rays diverge.
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NOT EXAMINABLE
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FOR INTEREST ONLY – NOT EXAMINABLE
Image in a mirror
Light from a light source reflects on you and shines on the mirror
Light shines on the mirror and is reflected back to your eye
Your brain reads that the light ray that just entered your eye travelled
the distance equal to the length of rays 2 and 3 together, therefore the
brain forms an image a distance away (the sum of the distances that rays
2 and 3 travelled)
What colour is a mirror? Ask your teacher to show you the video…
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Activity: Investigate transparent objects - MEMO
Collect various colours of cellophane.
Look through the cellophane.
Why does everything appear to be the same colour as the cellophane
you are looking through? Explain. When white light shines on the
cellophane only the light that matches the cellophane colour is
transmitted through. All the other colours are absorbed
If I shine a white light through
blue cellophane, what colour
light will be seen on the other
side? blue
If I shine a red light through blue
cellophane, what colour light
will be seen on the other side?
No light
Explain your answer. All the red
light will be absorbed by the
blue cellophane so no light will be transmitted through
Draw diagram page 172
If I look through red cellophane at the grass. What colour will the grass
appear? black
Why? The grass reflects green light. The green light is not transmitted through
the red cellophane so no light from the grass is seen.
Draw a diagram below to show this
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GRADE 8 PRACTICAL: LIGHT TERM 4
Name: _________________________________ Class:____________
A. Transmission of Light
You will need: A red laser light, red, blue and clear transparent plastic cups,
shoebox with white wall at back.
Your teacher will demonstrate shining the red laser through the 3 cups. Record
the colour of the light that shines on the white wall.
1. Record your observations below:
Cup Colour of light on wall
Clear Cup
Red Cup
Blue Cup
(3)
2. Complete the ray diagrams below by drawing the beam of light that
leaves the cup and hits the wall. Remember to write the colour of the
light.
WALL
Red light
Clear
cup
Red light
WALL
Red
cup
Red light
WALL
Blue
cup
(3)
3. Explain the result you saw when the red laser was shone through the
blue cup. ___________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________(2)
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4. Your teacher will now shine a white light through the blue cup.
(a) What colour light shines on the white wall? ________________(1)
(b) Explain your observation in the question above. _______________
___________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________(2)
B. Refraction of Light
5. Complete the diagrams below to show how light travels through glass
prisms.
[Draw all missing lines in diagram 1 and show the correct colours in diagram 2]
Glass (3)
Glass
(2)
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6. Complete the diagrams below to show how Lens A and B refract light.
(2)
7. Lenses can be used to correct eye defects. Diagram 1 shows a person
who is far sighted. Draw the lens that will be used to correct this
problem in the space provided in diagram 2.
Diagram 1
Diagram 2
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Draw lens here
(2)
TOTAL MARKS: 20
Grade 8
