Light and Sound

In this unit:

1) Properties of light
2) Reflection
3) Colours
4) Refraction
5) Properties of sound
6) Hearing
Part 1 – Properties of Light

Light travels in straight lines:

Laser
 Light travels VERY FAST – around
300,000 kilometres per second.

At this speed it can

go around the world 8
times in one second.
Light travels much faster than sound. For example:

1) Thunder and lightning

start at the same time,
but we will see the
lightning first.

2) When a starting pistol

is fired we see the
smoke first and then
hear the bang.
We see things because they
reflect light into our eyes:

Homework
 Luminous and non-luminous objects

A luminous object is one that produces light.

A non-luminous object is one that reflects light.

Luminous objects Reflectors

 Shadows
Shadows are places where light is “blocked”:

Rays of light
Properties of Light summary

1) Light travels in straight lines

2) Light travels much faster than sound
3) We see things because they reflect light
into our eyes
4) Shadows are formed when light is blocked
by an object
 Part 2 - Reflection
Reflection from a mirror:

Normal

Incident ray Reflected ray

Angle of Angle of
incidence reflection

Mirror
 The Law of Reflection

Angle of incidence = Angle of reflection

In other words, light gets reflected from a surface at

____ _____ angle it hits it.

The
same !!!
 Clear vs. Diffuse Reflection

Smooth, shiny surfaces

have a clear reflection:

Rough, dull surfaces have

a diffuse reflection.

Diffuse reflection is when

light is scattered in
different directions
 Using mirrors
Two examples:

2) A car headlight

1) A periscope
 Colour
White light is not a single colour; it is made
up of a mixture of the seven colours of the
rainbow.

We can demonstrate this by

splitting white light with a
prism:

This is how rainbows are

formed: sunlight is “split up”
by raindrops.
The colours of the rainbow:

Red
Orange
Yellow
Green
Blue
Indigo
Violet
 Adding colours
White light can be split up to make separate colours.
These colours can be added together again.

The primary colours of light are red, blue and green:

Adding blue and red Adding blue and

makes magenta green makes cyan
(purple) (light blue)

Adding red Adding all

and green three makes
makes yellow white again
 Seeing colour
The colour an object appears depends on the colours
of light it reflects.

For example, a red book only reflects red light:

White Only red light

light is reflected
 A pair of purple trousers would reflect purple light
(and red and blue, as purple is made up of red and blue):

Purple light

A white hat would reflect all seven colours:

White
light
 Using coloured light
If we look at a coloured object in coloured
light we see something different. For
example, consider a football kit:

Shirt looks red

White
light

Shorts look blue

In different colours of light this kit would look different:

Red
Shirt looks red
light

Shorts look black

Shirt looks black

Blue
light

Shorts look blue

 Some further examples:

Colour object
Object Colour of light
seems to be
Red Red
Red socks Blue Black
Green Black
Red Black
Blue teddy Blue
Green
Red
Green camel Blue
Green
Red
Magenta book Blue
Green
 Using filters
Filters can be used to “block” out different colours of light:

Red
Filter

Magenta
Filter
 Investigating filters
Colour of filter Colours that could be “seen”
Red
Green
Blue
Cyan
Magenta
Yellow
 Red Blue Green White

Yellow Cyan Magenta

 Refraction

Refraction is when waves ____ __ or slow down due to

travelling in a different _________. A medium is
something that waves will travel through. When a pen is
placed in water it looks like this:

In this case the light rays are slowed down by the water
and are _____, causing the pen to look odd. The two
mediums in this example are ______ and _______.

Words – speed up, water, air, bent

 Sound – The basics
We hear things when they vibrate.

If something vibrates with a high frequency (vibrates very

______) we say it has a _____ pitch.
If something vibrates with a low frequency (vibrates
______) we say it has a ____ pitch.

The lowest frequency I could hear was…

Words – slowly, low, high, quickly

 Drawing sounds…

This sound wave has a

_____ frequency:

This sound wave has a

___ _frequency:
 Drawing sounds…

This sound wave has a

_____ amplitude
(loud):

This sound wave has a

_____ amplitude
(quiet):
 Hearing problems

Our hearing range can be damaged by several

things:

1) Too much ear wax!

2) Damage to the auditory nerve
3) Illness or infections
4) Old age (not like Mr Richards)
 Other sound effects…

Like light, sound can be…

1) Reflected – sound reflections are called

______.
2) Refracted – this is why you might sound
strange if you try talking underwater
 The Ear
Label your diagram with the following:

These bones are vibrated by the eardrum

This tube carries the sound towards the eardrum
This part is used to help us keep our balance
This part “picks up” the vibrations
This part of the ear contains many small hairs with turn
vibrations into an electrical signal
This part connects the ear to the mouth
This part “channels” the sound towards the ear drum
The Ear