Light is electromagnetic radiation of a wavelength that is visible to the human eye (in a range from about 380 or 400 nm to about 760 or 780 nm).[1] In physics, the term light sometimes refers to electromagnetic radiation of any wavelength, whether visible or not.[2][3]
Four primary properties of light are intensity, frequency or wavelength, polarization, and phase
Light, which exists in tiny "packets" called photons, exhibits properties of both waves and particles. This property is referred to as the wave–particle duality. The study of light, known as optics, is an important research area in modern physics.
Contents [hide]
1 Speed of light
2 Electromagnetic spectrum
3 Refraction
4 Optics
5 Light sources
6 Units and measures
7 Historical theories about light, in chronological order
7.1 Hindu and Buddhist theories
7.2 Greek and Hellenistic theories
7.3 Optical theory
7.4 Particle theory
7.5 Wave theory
7.6 Electromagnetic theory
7.7 The special theory of relativity
7.8 Particle theory revisited
7.9 Quantum theory
7.10 Wave–particle duality
7.11 Quantum electrodynamics
8 Light pressure
9 Spirituality
10 See also
11 References
[edit] Speed of light
Main article: Speed of light
The speed of light in a vacuum is presently defined to be exactly 299,792,458 m/s (approximately 186,282 miles per second). The fixed value of the speed of light in SI units results from the fact that the metre is now defined in terms of the speed of light. Light always travels at a constant speed, even between particles of a substance through which it is shining. Photons excite the adjoining particles that in turn transfer the energy to the neighbor. This may appear to slow the beam down through its trajectory in realtime. The time lost between entry and exit accounts to the displacement of energy through the substance between each particle that is excited.
Different physicists have attempted to measure the speed of light throughout history. Galileo attempted to measure the speed of light in the seventeenth century. An early experiment to measure the speed of light was conducted by Ole Rømer, a Danish physicist, in 1676. Using a telescope, Ole observed the motions of Jupiter and one of its moons, Io. Noting discrepancies in the apparent period of Io's orbit, Rømer calculated that light takes about 22 minutes to traverse the diameter of Earth's orbit.[4] Unfortunately, its size was not known at that time. If Ole had known the diameter of the Earth's orbit, he would have calculated a speed of 227,000,000 m/s.
Another, more accurate, measurement of the speed of light was performed in Europe by Hippolyte Fizeau in 1849. Fizeau directed a beam of light at a mirror several kilometers away. A rotating cog wheel was placed in the path of the light beam as it traveled from the source, to the mirror and then returned to its origin. Fizeau found that at a certain rate of rotation, the beam would pass through one gap in the wheel on the way out and the next gap on the way back. Knowing the distance to the mirror, the number of teeth on the wheel, and the rate of rotation, Fizeau was able to calculate the speed of light as 313,000,000 m/s.
Léon Foucault used an experiment which used rotating mirrors to obtain a value of 298,000,000 m/s in 1862. Albert A. Michelson conducted experiments on the speed of light from 1877 until his death in 1931. He refined Foucault's methods in 1926 using improved rotating mirrors to measure the time it took light to make a round trip from Mt. Wilson to Mt. San Antonio in California. The precise measurements yielded a speed of 299,796,000 m/s.
Two independent teams of physicists were able to bring light to a complete standstill by passing it through a Bose-Einstein Condensate of the element rubidium, one led by Dr. Lene Vestergaard Hau of Harvard University and the Rowland Institute for Science in Cambridge, Mass., and the other by Dr. Ronald L. Walsworth and Dr. Mikhail D. Lukin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, also in Cambridge.[citation needed]
[edit] Electromagnetic spectrum
Main article: Electromagnetic spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum with light highlightedGenerally, EM radiation (the designation 'radiation' excludes static electric and magnetic and near fields) is classified by wavelength into radio, microwave, infrared, the visible region we perceive as light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays.
The behavior of EM radiation depends on its wavelength. Higher frequencies have shorter wavelengths, and lower frequencies have longer wavelengths. When EM radiation interacts with single atoms and molecules, its behavior depends on the amount of energy per quantum it carries.
[edit] Refraction
Main article: Refraction
Refraction is the bending of light rays when passing from one transparent material to another. It is described by Snell's Law:
where θ1 is the angle between the ray and the normal in the first medium, θ2 is the angle between the ray and the normal in the second medium, and n1 and n2 are the indices of refraction, n = 1 in a vacuum and n > 1 in a transparent substance.
When a beam of light crosses the boundary between a vacuum and another medium, or between two different media, the wavelength of the light changes, but the frequency remains constant. If the beam of light is not orthogonal (or rather normal) to the boundary, the change in wavelength results in a change in the direction of the beam. This change of direction is known as refraction.
The refractive quality of lenses is frequently used to manipulate light in order to change the apparent size of images. Magnifying glasses, spectacles, contact lenses, microscopes and refracting telescopes are all examples of this manipulation.
Light refraction is the main basis of measurement for gloss. Gloss is measured using a glossmeter.
[edit] Optics
Main article: Optics
The study of light and the interaction of light and matter is termed optics. The observation and study of optical phenomena such as rainbows and the aurora borealis offer many clues as to the nature of light as well as much enjoyment.
[edit] Light sources
See also: List of light sources
A cloud illuminated by sunlightThere are many sources of light. The most common light sources are thermal: a body at a given temperature emits a characteristic spectrum of black-body radiation. Examples include sunlight (the radiation emitted by the chromosphere of the Sun at around 6,000 K peaks in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum when plotted in wavelength units [1] and roughly 40% of sunlight is visible), incandescent light bulbs (which emit only around 10% of their energy as visible light and the remainder as infrared), and glowing solid particles in flames. The peak of the blackbody spectrum is in the infrared for relatively cool objects like human beings. As the temperature increases, the peak shifts to shorter wavelengths, producing first a red glow, then a white one, and finally a blue color as the peak moves out of the visible part of the spectrum and into the ultraviolet. These colors can be seen when metal is heated to "red hot" or "white hot". Blue thermal emission is not often seen. The commonly seen blue colour in a gas flame or a welder's torch is in fact due to molecular emission, notably by CH radicals (emitting a wavelength band around 425 nm).
Atoms emit and absorb light at characteristic energies. This produces "emission lines" in the spectrum of each atom. Emission can be spontaneous, as in light-emitting diodes, gas discharge lamps (such as neon lamps and neon signs, mercury-vapor lamps, etc.), and flames (light from the hot gas itself—so, for example, sodium in a gas flame emits characteristic yellow light). Emission can also be stimulated, as in a laser or a microwave maser.
Deceleration of a free charged particle, such as an electron, can produce visible radiation: cyclotron radiation, synchrotron radiation, and bremsstrahlung radiation are all examples of this. Particles moving through a medium faster than the speed of light in that medium can produce visible Cherenkov radiation.
Certain chemicals produce visible radiation by chemoluminescence. In living things, this process is called bioluminescence. For example, fireflies produce light by this means, and boats moving through water can disturb plankton which produce a glowing wake.
Certain substances produce light when they are illuminated by more energetic radiation, a process known as fluorescence. Some substances emit light slowly after excitation by more energetic radiation. This is known as phosphorescence.
Phosphorescent materials can also be excited by bombarding them with subatomic particles. Cathodoluminescence is one example of this. This mechanism is used in cathode ray tube television sets and computer monitors.
A city illuminated by light bulbsCertain other mechanisms can produce light:
scintillation
electroluminescence
sonoluminescence
triboluminescence
Cherenkov radiation
When the concept of light is intended to include very-high-energy photons (gamma rays), additional generation mechanisms include:
Radioactive decay
Particle–antiparticle annihilation
[edit] Units and measures
Main articles: Photometry (optics) and Radiometry
Light is measured with two main alternative sets of units: radiometry consists of measurements of light power at all wavelengths, while photometry measures light with wavelength weighted with respect to a standardized model of human brightness perception. Photometry is useful, for example, to quantify Illumination (lighting) intended for human use. The SI units for both systems are summarized in the following tables.
[edit]
SI radiometry units Quantity Symbol SI unit Abbr. Notes
Radiant energy Q joule J energy
Radiant flux Φ watt W radiant energy per unit time, also called radiant power
Radiant intensity I watt per steradian W·sr−1 power per unit solid angle
Radiance L watt per steradian per square metre W·sr−1·m−2 power per unit solid angle per unit projected source area.
called intensity in some other fields of study.
Irradiance E, I watt per square metre W·m−2 power incident on a surface.
sometimes confusingly called "intensity".
Radiant exitance /
Radiant emittance M watt per square metre W·m−2 power emitted from a surface.
Radiosity J or Jλ watt per square metre W·m−2 emitted plus reflected power leaving a surface
Spectral radiance Lλ
or
Lν watt per steradian per metre3
or
watt per steradian per square
metre per hertz
W·sr−1·m−3
or
W·sr−1·m−2·Hz−1
commonly measured in W·sr−1·m−2·nm−1
Spectral irradiance Eλ
or
Eν watt per metre3
or
watt per square metre per hertz W·m−3
or
W·m−2·Hz−1 commonly measured in W·m−2·nm−1
SI photometry units v • d • eQuantity Symbol SI unit Abbr. Notes
Luminous energy Qv lumen second lm·s units are sometimes called talbots
Luminous flux F lumen (= cd·sr) lm also called luminous power
Luminous intensity Iv candela (= lm/sr) cd an SI base unit
Luminance Lv candela per square metre cd/m2 units are sometimes called "nits"
Illuminance Ev lux (= lm/m2) lx Used for light incident on a surface
Luminous emittance Mv lux (= lm/m2) lx Used for light emitted from a surface
Luminous efficacy lumen per watt lm/W ratio of luminous flux to radiant flux
See also SI · Photometry
The photometry units are different from most systems of physical units in that they take into account how the human eye responds to light. The cone cells in the human eye are of three types which respond differently across the visible spectrum, and the cumulative response peaks at a wavelength of around 555 nm. Therefore, two sources of light which produce the same intensity (W/m2) of visible light do not necessarily appear equally bright. The photometry units are designed to take this into account, and therefore are a better representation of how "bright" a light appears to be than raw intensity. They relate to raw power by a quantity called luminous efficacy, and are used for purposes like determining how to best achieve sufficient illumination for various tasks in indoor and outdoor settings. The illumination measured by a photocell sensor does not necessarily correspond to what is perceived by the human eye, and without filters which may be costly, photocells and charge-coupled devices (CCD) tend to respond to some infrared, ultraviolet or both.
[edit] Historical theories about light, in chronological order
[edit] Hindu and Buddhist theories
In ancient India, the Hindu schools of Samkhya and Vaisheshika, from around the 6th–5th century BC, developed theories on light. According to the Samkhya school, light is one of the five fundamental "subtle" elements (tanmatra) out of which emerge the gross elements. The atomicity of these elements is not specifically mentioned and it appears that they were actually taken to be continuous.
On the other hand, the Vaisheshika school gives an atomic theory of the physical world on the non-atomic ground of ether, space and time. (See Indian atomism.) The basic atoms are those of earth (prthivı), water (pani), fire (agni), and air (vayu), that should not be confused with the ordinary meaning of these terms. These atoms are taken to form binary molecules that combine further to form larger molecules. Motion is defined in terms of the movement of the physical atoms and it appears that it is taken to be non-instantaneous. Light rays are taken to be a stream of high velocity of tejas (fire) atoms. The particles of light can exhibit different characteristics depending on the speed and the arrangements of the tejas atoms. Around the first century BC, the Vishnu Purana refers to sunlight as the "the seven rays of the sun".
Later in 499, Aryabhata, who proposed a heliocentric solar system of gravitation in his Aryabhatiya, wrote that the planets and the Moon do not have their own light but reflect the light of the Sun.
The Indian Buddhists, such as Dignāga in the 5th century and Dharmakirti in the 7th century, developed a type of atomism that is a philosophy about reality being composed of atomic entities that are momentary flashes of light or energy. They viewed light as being an atomic entity equivalent to energy, similar to the modern concept of photons, though they also viewed all matter as being composed of these light/energy particles.
It is written in the Rigveda that light consists of three primary colors. "Mixing the three colours, ye have produced all the objects of sight!"[5]
[edit] Greek and Hellenistic theories
Main article: Emission theory (vision)
In the fifth century BC, Empedocles postulated that everything was composed of four elements; fire, air, earth and water. He believed that Aphrodite made the human eye out of the four elements and that she lit the fire in the eye which shone out from the eye making sight possible. If this were true, then one could see during the night just as well as during the day, so Empedocles postulated an interaction between rays from the eyes and rays from a source such as the sun.
In about 300 BC, Euclid wrote Optica, in which he studied the properties of light. Euclid postulated that light travelled in straight lines and he described the laws of reflection and studied them mathematically. He questioned that sight is the result of a beam from the eye, for he asks how one sees the stars immediately, if one closes one's eyes, then opens them at night. Of course if the beam from the eye travels infinitely fast this is not a problem.
In 55 BC, Lucretius, a Roman who carried on the ideas of earlier Greek atomists, wrote:
"The light & heat of the sun; these are composed of minute atoms which, when they are shoved off, lose no time in shooting right across the interspace of air in the direction imparted by the shove." – On the nature of the Universe
Despite being similar to later particle theories, Lucretius's views were not generally accepted and light was still theorized as emanating from the eye.
Ptolemy (c. 2nd century) wrote about the refraction of light in his book Optics, and developed a theory of vision whereby objects are seen by rays of light emanating from the eyes.[6]
[edit] Optical theory
Main article: History of optics
See also: Book of Optics and Physics in medieval Islam
Ibn al-Haytham proved that light travels in straight lines through optical experiments.The Muslim scientist, Ibn al-Haytham (965–1040), known as Alhacen or Alhazen in the West, developed a broad theory of vision based on geometry and anatomy in his Book of Optics (1021). Ibn al-Haytham provided the first correct description of how vision works,[7] explaining that it is not due to objects being seen by rays of light emanating from the eyes, as Euclid and Ptolemy had assumed, but due to light rays entering the eyes.[8] Ibn al-Haytham postulated that every point on an illuminated surface radiates light rays in all directions, but that only one ray from each point can be seen: the ray that strikes the eye perpendicularly. The other rays strike at different angles and are not seen. He conducted experiments to support his argument, which included the development of apparatus such as the pinhole camera and camera obscura, which produces an inverted image.[9] Alhacen held light rays to be streams of minute particles that "lack all sensible qualities except energy"[10] and travel at a finite speed.[11][12][13] He improved Ptolemy's theory of the refraction of light, and went on to describe the laws of refraction, though this was earlier discovered by Ibn Sahl (c. 940-1000) several decades before him.[14][15]
A page of Ibn Sahl's manuscript showing his discovery of the law of refraction (Snell's law).He also carried out the first experiments on the dispersion of light into its constituent colors. His major work Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics) was translated into Latin in the Middle Ages, as well his book dealing with the colors of sunset. He dealt at length with the theory of various physical phenomena like shadows, eclipses, the rainbow. He also attempted to explain binocular vision, and gave an explanation of the apparent increase in size of the sun and the moon when near the horizon, known as the moon illusion. Because of his extensive experimental research on optics, Ibn al-Haytham is considered the "father of modern optics".[16]
Ibn al-Haytham developed the camera obscura and pinhole camera for his experiments on light.Ibn al-Haytham also correctly argued that we see objects because the sun's rays of light, which he believed to be streams of tiny energy particles[10] travelling in straight lines, are reflected from objects into our eyes.[11] He understood that light must travel at a large but finite velocity,[11][12][13] and that refraction is caused by the velocity being different in different substances.[11] He also studied spherical and parabolic mirrors, and understood how refraction by a lens will allow images to be focused and magnification to take place. He understood mathematically why a spherical mirror produces aberration.
Ibn al-Haytham's optical model of light was "the first comprehensive and systematic alternative to Greek optical theories."[17] He initiated a revolution in optics and visual perception,[18][19][20][21][22][23] also known as the 'Optical Revolution',[24] and laid the foundations for a physical optics.[25][26] As such, he is often regarded as the "father of modern optics."[25]
Avicenna (980–1037) agreed that the speed of light is finite, as he "observed that if the perception of light is due to the emission of some sort of particles by a luminous source, the speed of light must be finite."[27] Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (973–1048) also agreed that light has a finite speed, and he was the first to discover that the speed of light is much faster than the speed of sound.[28] In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi (1236–1311) and his student Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī (1260–1320) continued the work of Ibn al-Haytham, and they were the first to give the correct explanations for the rainbow phenomenon.[29]
René Descartes (1596–1650) held that light was a mechanical property of the luminous body, rejecting the "forms" of Ibn al-Haytham and Whitelo as well as the "species" of Bacon, Grosseteste, and Kepler.[30] In 1637 he published a theory of the refraction of light that assumed, incorrectly, that light travelled faster in a denser medium than in a less dense medium. Descartes arrived at this conclusion by analogy with the behaviour of sound waves.[citation needed] Although Descartes was incorrect about the relative speeds, he was correct in assuming that light behaved like a wave and in concluding that refraction could be explained by the speed of light in different media.
Descartes is not the first to use the mechanical analogies but because he clearly asserts that light is only a mechanical property of the luminous body and the transmitting medium, Descartes' theory of light is regarded as the start of modern physical optics.[31]
[edit] Particle theory
Main article: Corpuscular theory of light
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen, 965–1040) proposed a particle theory of light in his Book of Optics (1021). He held light rays to be streams of minute energy particles[10] that travel in straight lines at a finite speed.[11][12][13] He states in his optics that "the smallest parts of light," as he calls them, "retain only properties that can be treated by geometry and verified by experiment; they lack all sensible qualities except energy."[10] Avicenna (980–1037) also proposed that "the perception of light is due to the emission of some sort of particles by a luminous source".[27]
Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655), an atomist, proposed a particle theory of light which was published posthumously in the 1660s. Isaac Newton studied Gassendi's work at an early age, and preferred his view to Descartes' theory of the plenum. He stated in his Hypothesis of Light of 1675 that light was composed of corpuscles (particles of matter) which were emitted in all directions from a source. One of Newton's arguments against the wave nature of light was that waves were known to bend around obstacles, while light travelled only in straight lines. He did, however, explain the phenomenon of the diffraction of light (which had been observed by Francesco Grimaldi) by allowing that a light particle could create a localised wave in the aether.
Newton's theory could be used to predict the reflection of light, but could only explain refraction by incorrectly assuming that light accelerated upon entering a denser medium because the gravitational pull was greater. Newton published the final version of his theory in his Opticks of 1704. His reputation helped the particle theory of light to hold sway during the 18th century. The particle theory of light led Laplace to argue that a body could be so massive that light could not escape from it. In other words it would become what is now called a black hole. Laplace withdrew his suggestion when the wave theory of light was firmly established. A translation of his essay appears in The large scale structure of space-time, by Stephen Hawking and George F. R. Ellis.
[edit] Wave theory
In the 1660s, Robert Hooke published a wave theory of light. Christiaan Huygens worked out his own wave theory of light in 1678, and published it in his Treatise on light in 1690. He proposed that light was emitted in all directions as a series of waves in a medium called the Luminiferous ether. As waves are not affected by gravity, it was assumed that they slowed down upon entering a denser medium.
Thomas Young's sketch of the two-slit experiment showing the diffraction of light. Young's experiments supported the theory that light consists of waves.The wave theory predicted that light waves could interfere with each other like sound waves (as noted around 1800 by Thomas Young), and that light could be polarized, if it were a transverse wave. Young showed by means of a diffraction experiment that light behaved as waves. He also proposed that different colors were caused by different wavelengths of light, and explained color vision in terms of three-colored receptors in the eye.
Another supporter of the wave theory was Leonhard Euler. He argued in Nova theoria lucis et colorum (1746) that diffraction could more easily be explained by a wave theory.
Later, Augustin-Jean Fresnel independently worked out his own wave theory of light, and presented it to the Académie des Sciences in 1817. Simeon Denis Poisson added to Fresnel's mathematical work to produce a convincing argument in favour of the wave theory, helping to overturn Newton's corpuscular theory. By the year 1821, Fresnel was able to show via mathematical methods that polarization could be explained only by the wave theory of light and only if light was entirely transverse, with no longitudinal vibration whatsoever.
The weakness of the wave theory was that light waves, like sound waves, would need a medium for transmission. A hypothetical substance called the luminiferous aether was proposed, but its existence was cast into strong doubt in the late nineteenth century by the Michelson-Morley experiment.
Newton's corpuscular theory implied that light would travel faster in a denser medium, while the wave theory of Huygens and others implied the opposite. At that time, the speed of light could not be measured accurately enough to decide which theory was correct. The first to make a sufficiently accurate measurement was Léon Foucault, in 1850.[32] His result supported the wave theory, and the classical particle theory was finally abandoned.
Four primary properties of light are intensity, frequency or wavelength, polarization, and phase
Light, which exists in tiny "packets" called photons, exhibits properties of both waves and particles. This property is referred to as the wave–particle duality. The study of light, known as optics, is an important research area in modern physics.
Contents [hide]
1 Speed of light
2 Electromagnetic spectrum
3 Refraction
4 Optics
5 Light sources
6 Units and measures
7 Historical theories about light, in chronological order
7.1 Hindu and Buddhist theories
7.2 Greek and Hellenistic theories
7.3 Optical theory
7.4 Particle theory
7.5 Wave theory
7.6 Electromagnetic theory
7.7 The special theory of relativity
7.8 Particle theory revisited
7.9 Quantum theory
7.10 Wave–particle duality
7.11 Quantum electrodynamics
8 Light pressure
9 Spirituality
10 See also
11 References
[edit] Speed of light
Main article: Speed of light
The speed of light in a vacuum is presently defined to be exactly 299,792,458 m/s (approximately 186,282 miles per second). The fixed value of the speed of light in SI units results from the fact that the metre is now defined in terms of the speed of light. Light always travels at a constant speed, even between particles of a substance through which it is shining. Photons excite the adjoining particles that in turn transfer the energy to the neighbor. This may appear to slow the beam down through its trajectory in realtime. The time lost between entry and exit accounts to the displacement of energy through the substance between each particle that is excited.
Different physicists have attempted to measure the speed of light throughout history. Galileo attempted to measure the speed of light in the seventeenth century. An early experiment to measure the speed of light was conducted by Ole Rømer, a Danish physicist, in 1676. Using a telescope, Ole observed the motions of Jupiter and one of its moons, Io. Noting discrepancies in the apparent period of Io's orbit, Rømer calculated that light takes about 22 minutes to traverse the diameter of Earth's orbit.[4] Unfortunately, its size was not known at that time. If Ole had known the diameter of the Earth's orbit, he would have calculated a speed of 227,000,000 m/s.
Another, more accurate, measurement of the speed of light was performed in Europe by Hippolyte Fizeau in 1849. Fizeau directed a beam of light at a mirror several kilometers away. A rotating cog wheel was placed in the path of the light beam as it traveled from the source, to the mirror and then returned to its origin. Fizeau found that at a certain rate of rotation, the beam would pass through one gap in the wheel on the way out and the next gap on the way back. Knowing the distance to the mirror, the number of teeth on the wheel, and the rate of rotation, Fizeau was able to calculate the speed of light as 313,000,000 m/s.
Léon Foucault used an experiment which used rotating mirrors to obtain a value of 298,000,000 m/s in 1862. Albert A. Michelson conducted experiments on the speed of light from 1877 until his death in 1931. He refined Foucault's methods in 1926 using improved rotating mirrors to measure the time it took light to make a round trip from Mt. Wilson to Mt. San Antonio in California. The precise measurements yielded a speed of 299,796,000 m/s.
Two independent teams of physicists were able to bring light to a complete standstill by passing it through a Bose-Einstein Condensate of the element rubidium, one led by Dr. Lene Vestergaard Hau of Harvard University and the Rowland Institute for Science in Cambridge, Mass., and the other by Dr. Ronald L. Walsworth and Dr. Mikhail D. Lukin of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, also in Cambridge.[citation needed]
[edit] Electromagnetic spectrum
Main article: Electromagnetic spectrum
Electromagnetic spectrum with light highlightedGenerally, EM radiation (the designation 'radiation' excludes static electric and magnetic and near fields) is classified by wavelength into radio, microwave, infrared, the visible region we perceive as light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays.
The behavior of EM radiation depends on its wavelength. Higher frequencies have shorter wavelengths, and lower frequencies have longer wavelengths. When EM radiation interacts with single atoms and molecules, its behavior depends on the amount of energy per quantum it carries.
[edit] Refraction
Main article: Refraction
Refraction is the bending of light rays when passing from one transparent material to another. It is described by Snell's Law:
where θ1 is the angle between the ray and the normal in the first medium, θ2 is the angle between the ray and the normal in the second medium, and n1 and n2 are the indices of refraction, n = 1 in a vacuum and n > 1 in a transparent substance.
When a beam of light crosses the boundary between a vacuum and another medium, or between two different media, the wavelength of the light changes, but the frequency remains constant. If the beam of light is not orthogonal (or rather normal) to the boundary, the change in wavelength results in a change in the direction of the beam. This change of direction is known as refraction.
The refractive quality of lenses is frequently used to manipulate light in order to change the apparent size of images. Magnifying glasses, spectacles, contact lenses, microscopes and refracting telescopes are all examples of this manipulation.
Light refraction is the main basis of measurement for gloss. Gloss is measured using a glossmeter.
[edit] Optics
Main article: Optics
The study of light and the interaction of light and matter is termed optics. The observation and study of optical phenomena such as rainbows and the aurora borealis offer many clues as to the nature of light as well as much enjoyment.
[edit] Light sources
See also: List of light sources
A cloud illuminated by sunlightThere are many sources of light. The most common light sources are thermal: a body at a given temperature emits a characteristic spectrum of black-body radiation. Examples include sunlight (the radiation emitted by the chromosphere of the Sun at around 6,000 K peaks in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum when plotted in wavelength units [1] and roughly 40% of sunlight is visible), incandescent light bulbs (which emit only around 10% of their energy as visible light and the remainder as infrared), and glowing solid particles in flames. The peak of the blackbody spectrum is in the infrared for relatively cool objects like human beings. As the temperature increases, the peak shifts to shorter wavelengths, producing first a red glow, then a white one, and finally a blue color as the peak moves out of the visible part of the spectrum and into the ultraviolet. These colors can be seen when metal is heated to "red hot" or "white hot". Blue thermal emission is not often seen. The commonly seen blue colour in a gas flame or a welder's torch is in fact due to molecular emission, notably by CH radicals (emitting a wavelength band around 425 nm).
Atoms emit and absorb light at characteristic energies. This produces "emission lines" in the spectrum of each atom. Emission can be spontaneous, as in light-emitting diodes, gas discharge lamps (such as neon lamps and neon signs, mercury-vapor lamps, etc.), and flames (light from the hot gas itself—so, for example, sodium in a gas flame emits characteristic yellow light). Emission can also be stimulated, as in a laser or a microwave maser.
Deceleration of a free charged particle, such as an electron, can produce visible radiation: cyclotron radiation, synchrotron radiation, and bremsstrahlung radiation are all examples of this. Particles moving through a medium faster than the speed of light in that medium can produce visible Cherenkov radiation.
Certain chemicals produce visible radiation by chemoluminescence. In living things, this process is called bioluminescence. For example, fireflies produce light by this means, and boats moving through water can disturb plankton which produce a glowing wake.
Certain substances produce light when they are illuminated by more energetic radiation, a process known as fluorescence. Some substances emit light slowly after excitation by more energetic radiation. This is known as phosphorescence.
Phosphorescent materials can also be excited by bombarding them with subatomic particles. Cathodoluminescence is one example of this. This mechanism is used in cathode ray tube television sets and computer monitors.
A city illuminated by light bulbsCertain other mechanisms can produce light:
scintillation
electroluminescence
sonoluminescence
triboluminescence
Cherenkov radiation
When the concept of light is intended to include very-high-energy photons (gamma rays), additional generation mechanisms include:
Radioactive decay
Particle–antiparticle annihilation
[edit] Units and measures
Main articles: Photometry (optics) and Radiometry
Light is measured with two main alternative sets of units: radiometry consists of measurements of light power at all wavelengths, while photometry measures light with wavelength weighted with respect to a standardized model of human brightness perception. Photometry is useful, for example, to quantify Illumination (lighting) intended for human use. The SI units for both systems are summarized in the following tables.
[edit]
SI radiometry units Quantity Symbol SI unit Abbr. Notes
Radiant energy Q joule J energy
Radiant flux Φ watt W radiant energy per unit time, also called radiant power
Radiant intensity I watt per steradian W·sr−1 power per unit solid angle
Radiance L watt per steradian per square metre W·sr−1·m−2 power per unit solid angle per unit projected source area.
called intensity in some other fields of study.
Irradiance E, I watt per square metre W·m−2 power incident on a surface.
sometimes confusingly called "intensity".
Radiant exitance /
Radiant emittance M watt per square metre W·m−2 power emitted from a surface.
Radiosity J or Jλ watt per square metre W·m−2 emitted plus reflected power leaving a surface
Spectral radiance Lλ
or
Lν watt per steradian per metre3
or
watt per steradian per square
metre per hertz
W·sr−1·m−3
or
W·sr−1·m−2·Hz−1
commonly measured in W·sr−1·m−2·nm−1
Spectral irradiance Eλ
or
Eν watt per metre3
or
watt per square metre per hertz W·m−3
or
W·m−2·Hz−1 commonly measured in W·m−2·nm−1
SI photometry units v • d • eQuantity Symbol SI unit Abbr. Notes
Luminous energy Qv lumen second lm·s units are sometimes called talbots
Luminous flux F lumen (= cd·sr) lm also called luminous power
Luminous intensity Iv candela (= lm/sr) cd an SI base unit
Luminance Lv candela per square metre cd/m2 units are sometimes called "nits"
Illuminance Ev lux (= lm/m2) lx Used for light incident on a surface
Luminous emittance Mv lux (= lm/m2) lx Used for light emitted from a surface
Luminous efficacy lumen per watt lm/W ratio of luminous flux to radiant flux
See also SI · Photometry
The photometry units are different from most systems of physical units in that they take into account how the human eye responds to light. The cone cells in the human eye are of three types which respond differently across the visible spectrum, and the cumulative response peaks at a wavelength of around 555 nm. Therefore, two sources of light which produce the same intensity (W/m2) of visible light do not necessarily appear equally bright. The photometry units are designed to take this into account, and therefore are a better representation of how "bright" a light appears to be than raw intensity. They relate to raw power by a quantity called luminous efficacy, and are used for purposes like determining how to best achieve sufficient illumination for various tasks in indoor and outdoor settings. The illumination measured by a photocell sensor does not necessarily correspond to what is perceived by the human eye, and without filters which may be costly, photocells and charge-coupled devices (CCD) tend to respond to some infrared, ultraviolet or both.
[edit] Historical theories about light, in chronological order
[edit] Hindu and Buddhist theories
In ancient India, the Hindu schools of Samkhya and Vaisheshika, from around the 6th–5th century BC, developed theories on light. According to the Samkhya school, light is one of the five fundamental "subtle" elements (tanmatra) out of which emerge the gross elements. The atomicity of these elements is not specifically mentioned and it appears that they were actually taken to be continuous.
On the other hand, the Vaisheshika school gives an atomic theory of the physical world on the non-atomic ground of ether, space and time. (See Indian atomism.) The basic atoms are those of earth (prthivı), water (pani), fire (agni), and air (vayu), that should not be confused with the ordinary meaning of these terms. These atoms are taken to form binary molecules that combine further to form larger molecules. Motion is defined in terms of the movement of the physical atoms and it appears that it is taken to be non-instantaneous. Light rays are taken to be a stream of high velocity of tejas (fire) atoms. The particles of light can exhibit different characteristics depending on the speed and the arrangements of the tejas atoms. Around the first century BC, the Vishnu Purana refers to sunlight as the "the seven rays of the sun".
Later in 499, Aryabhata, who proposed a heliocentric solar system of gravitation in his Aryabhatiya, wrote that the planets and the Moon do not have their own light but reflect the light of the Sun.
The Indian Buddhists, such as Dignāga in the 5th century and Dharmakirti in the 7th century, developed a type of atomism that is a philosophy about reality being composed of atomic entities that are momentary flashes of light or energy. They viewed light as being an atomic entity equivalent to energy, similar to the modern concept of photons, though they also viewed all matter as being composed of these light/energy particles.
It is written in the Rigveda that light consists of three primary colors. "Mixing the three colours, ye have produced all the objects of sight!"[5]
[edit] Greek and Hellenistic theories
Main article: Emission theory (vision)
In the fifth century BC, Empedocles postulated that everything was composed of four elements; fire, air, earth and water. He believed that Aphrodite made the human eye out of the four elements and that she lit the fire in the eye which shone out from the eye making sight possible. If this were true, then one could see during the night just as well as during the day, so Empedocles postulated an interaction between rays from the eyes and rays from a source such as the sun.
In about 300 BC, Euclid wrote Optica, in which he studied the properties of light. Euclid postulated that light travelled in straight lines and he described the laws of reflection and studied them mathematically. He questioned that sight is the result of a beam from the eye, for he asks how one sees the stars immediately, if one closes one's eyes, then opens them at night. Of course if the beam from the eye travels infinitely fast this is not a problem.
In 55 BC, Lucretius, a Roman who carried on the ideas of earlier Greek atomists, wrote:
"The light & heat of the sun; these are composed of minute atoms which, when they are shoved off, lose no time in shooting right across the interspace of air in the direction imparted by the shove." – On the nature of the Universe
Despite being similar to later particle theories, Lucretius's views were not generally accepted and light was still theorized as emanating from the eye.
Ptolemy (c. 2nd century) wrote about the refraction of light in his book Optics, and developed a theory of vision whereby objects are seen by rays of light emanating from the eyes.[6]
[edit] Optical theory
Main article: History of optics
See also: Book of Optics and Physics in medieval Islam
Ibn al-Haytham proved that light travels in straight lines through optical experiments.The Muslim scientist, Ibn al-Haytham (965–1040), known as Alhacen or Alhazen in the West, developed a broad theory of vision based on geometry and anatomy in his Book of Optics (1021). Ibn al-Haytham provided the first correct description of how vision works,[7] explaining that it is not due to objects being seen by rays of light emanating from the eyes, as Euclid and Ptolemy had assumed, but due to light rays entering the eyes.[8] Ibn al-Haytham postulated that every point on an illuminated surface radiates light rays in all directions, but that only one ray from each point can be seen: the ray that strikes the eye perpendicularly. The other rays strike at different angles and are not seen. He conducted experiments to support his argument, which included the development of apparatus such as the pinhole camera and camera obscura, which produces an inverted image.[9] Alhacen held light rays to be streams of minute particles that "lack all sensible qualities except energy"[10] and travel at a finite speed.[11][12][13] He improved Ptolemy's theory of the refraction of light, and went on to describe the laws of refraction, though this was earlier discovered by Ibn Sahl (c. 940-1000) several decades before him.[14][15]
A page of Ibn Sahl's manuscript showing his discovery of the law of refraction (Snell's law).He also carried out the first experiments on the dispersion of light into its constituent colors. His major work Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics) was translated into Latin in the Middle Ages, as well his book dealing with the colors of sunset. He dealt at length with the theory of various physical phenomena like shadows, eclipses, the rainbow. He also attempted to explain binocular vision, and gave an explanation of the apparent increase in size of the sun and the moon when near the horizon, known as the moon illusion. Because of his extensive experimental research on optics, Ibn al-Haytham is considered the "father of modern optics".[16]
Ibn al-Haytham developed the camera obscura and pinhole camera for his experiments on light.Ibn al-Haytham also correctly argued that we see objects because the sun's rays of light, which he believed to be streams of tiny energy particles[10] travelling in straight lines, are reflected from objects into our eyes.[11] He understood that light must travel at a large but finite velocity,[11][12][13] and that refraction is caused by the velocity being different in different substances.[11] He also studied spherical and parabolic mirrors, and understood how refraction by a lens will allow images to be focused and magnification to take place. He understood mathematically why a spherical mirror produces aberration.
Ibn al-Haytham's optical model of light was "the first comprehensive and systematic alternative to Greek optical theories."[17] He initiated a revolution in optics and visual perception,[18][19][20][21][22][23] also known as the 'Optical Revolution',[24] and laid the foundations for a physical optics.[25][26] As such, he is often regarded as the "father of modern optics."[25]
Avicenna (980–1037) agreed that the speed of light is finite, as he "observed that if the perception of light is due to the emission of some sort of particles by a luminous source, the speed of light must be finite."[27] Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī (973–1048) also agreed that light has a finite speed, and he was the first to discover that the speed of light is much faster than the speed of sound.[28] In the late 13th and early 14th centuries, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi (1236–1311) and his student Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī (1260–1320) continued the work of Ibn al-Haytham, and they were the first to give the correct explanations for the rainbow phenomenon.[29]
René Descartes (1596–1650) held that light was a mechanical property of the luminous body, rejecting the "forms" of Ibn al-Haytham and Whitelo as well as the "species" of Bacon, Grosseteste, and Kepler.[30] In 1637 he published a theory of the refraction of light that assumed, incorrectly, that light travelled faster in a denser medium than in a less dense medium. Descartes arrived at this conclusion by analogy with the behaviour of sound waves.[citation needed] Although Descartes was incorrect about the relative speeds, he was correct in assuming that light behaved like a wave and in concluding that refraction could be explained by the speed of light in different media.
Descartes is not the first to use the mechanical analogies but because he clearly asserts that light is only a mechanical property of the luminous body and the transmitting medium, Descartes' theory of light is regarded as the start of modern physical optics.[31]
[edit] Particle theory
Main article: Corpuscular theory of light
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen, 965–1040) proposed a particle theory of light in his Book of Optics (1021). He held light rays to be streams of minute energy particles[10] that travel in straight lines at a finite speed.[11][12][13] He states in his optics that "the smallest parts of light," as he calls them, "retain only properties that can be treated by geometry and verified by experiment; they lack all sensible qualities except energy."[10] Avicenna (980–1037) also proposed that "the perception of light is due to the emission of some sort of particles by a luminous source".[27]
Pierre Gassendi (1592–1655), an atomist, proposed a particle theory of light which was published posthumously in the 1660s. Isaac Newton studied Gassendi's work at an early age, and preferred his view to Descartes' theory of the plenum. He stated in his Hypothesis of Light of 1675 that light was composed of corpuscles (particles of matter) which were emitted in all directions from a source. One of Newton's arguments against the wave nature of light was that waves were known to bend around obstacles, while light travelled only in straight lines. He did, however, explain the phenomenon of the diffraction of light (which had been observed by Francesco Grimaldi) by allowing that a light particle could create a localised wave in the aether.
Newton's theory could be used to predict the reflection of light, but could only explain refraction by incorrectly assuming that light accelerated upon entering a denser medium because the gravitational pull was greater. Newton published the final version of his theory in his Opticks of 1704. His reputation helped the particle theory of light to hold sway during the 18th century. The particle theory of light led Laplace to argue that a body could be so massive that light could not escape from it. In other words it would become what is now called a black hole. Laplace withdrew his suggestion when the wave theory of light was firmly established. A translation of his essay appears in The large scale structure of space-time, by Stephen Hawking and George F. R. Ellis.
[edit] Wave theory
In the 1660s, Robert Hooke published a wave theory of light. Christiaan Huygens worked out his own wave theory of light in 1678, and published it in his Treatise on light in 1690. He proposed that light was emitted in all directions as a series of waves in a medium called the Luminiferous ether. As waves are not affected by gravity, it was assumed that they slowed down upon entering a denser medium.
Thomas Young's sketch of the two-slit experiment showing the diffraction of light. Young's experiments supported the theory that light consists of waves.The wave theory predicted that light waves could interfere with each other like sound waves (as noted around 1800 by Thomas Young), and that light could be polarized, if it were a transverse wave. Young showed by means of a diffraction experiment that light behaved as waves. He also proposed that different colors were caused by different wavelengths of light, and explained color vision in terms of three-colored receptors in the eye.
Another supporter of the wave theory was Leonhard Euler. He argued in Nova theoria lucis et colorum (1746) that diffraction could more easily be explained by a wave theory.
Later, Augustin-Jean Fresnel independently worked out his own wave theory of light, and presented it to the Académie des Sciences in 1817. Simeon Denis Poisson added to Fresnel's mathematical work to produce a convincing argument in favour of the wave theory, helping to overturn Newton's corpuscular theory. By the year 1821, Fresnel was able to show via mathematical methods that polarization could be explained only by the wave theory of light and only if light was entirely transverse, with no longitudinal vibration whatsoever.
The weakness of the wave theory was that light waves, like sound waves, would need a medium for transmission. A hypothetical substance called the luminiferous aether was proposed, but its existence was cast into strong doubt in the late nineteenth century by the Michelson-Morley experiment.
Newton's corpuscular theory implied that light would travel faster in a denser medium, while the wave theory of Huygens and others implied the opposite. At that time, the speed of light could not be measured accurately enough to decide which theory was correct. The first to make a sufficiently accurate measurement was Léon Foucault, in 1850.[32] His result supported the wave theory, and the classical particle theory was finally abandoned.
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