1.2

• • Depending on the situation, light can:
  • Reflect
  • Transmit
  • Or Both Reflect & Transmit
• • Glare - Light reflected from glass
  • Other shiny flat surfaces can also 

  create glare
• Ray Diagrams - diagram used to represent how light travels

  • Each ray has an arrow to show the direction of travel
  • Light Rays travel away from a source in every direction
• • Ray diagrams can help explain why the brightness or intensity of a light changes with further distance
  • The further you are from a light source, the fewer the number of light rays that reach your eyes
  • Ray diagrams also help to explain shadows - If an object gets between the light source and our eyes, we perceive this lack of light as a shadow
• Objects can be:

  • Transparent
  • Translucent
  • Opaque
• transparent

  • Materials that allow light to pass through with little or no reflection
  • No shadow is created
  • Example: Glass window
• Translucent

  • Materials that allow some light to pass through
  • Creates a shadow
  • Example: Frosted Window
• opaque

  • Materials that do not allow light to pass through
  • Shadows are created behind these objects when light is shone on them
  • Example: Metal & Other solid objects
• • Luminous: Objects that produce light
  • Example: Sun, Light Bulb, Fire
• • Non-luminous: Objects that do not produce light but may reflect it
  • We see non-luminous objects because light from another source is reflected off of it
• • Two Types of Reflection:

  Regular Reflection

  Diffuse Reflection
• Regular Reflection

  Reflection occurs when parallel rays hit a smooth surface

  • All rays reflect at the same angle
  • When the rays reach your eyes, it is almost as if they had travelled directly from the source to your eyes without reflecting
• diffuse reflection -

  • happens when parallel rays hit a rough surface
  • All rays reflect all different angles
  • Reflected rays do NOT remain parallel