Optics: Definitions
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Created by:
xjgege on January 5, 2012
Subjects:
Classes:
Urbana Middle School - Science Olympiad, LHS Science Olympiad
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45 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Color addition | Combining different-colored light from separate sources to create new colors of light. |
| Color subtraction | Using filters or paints to subtract certain frequencies from white light to create different colors |
| Concave lens | A lens that is thinner in the middle that at the edges. (diverging lens) |
| Converging lens | A lens that bends light inward. (convex lens) |
| Convex lens | A lens that is thicker in the middle than at the edges. (converging lens) |
| Critical angle | The angle at which light when traveling from a more dense to a less dense medium is totally internally reflected. |
| Diffraction | Light traveling throw a narrow slit (or slits) adds and subtracts creating a pattern of dark and light fringes. (same as interference) |
| Diffraction grating | A clear sheet containing thousands of closely spaced slits. Light passing through a diffraction grating is broken down into its component frequencies. |
| Diverging lens | A lens that bends light outward. (concave lens) |
| Electromagnetic spectrum | The range of all possible electromagnetic frequencies. (This includes radio waves, microwaves, X-rays and visible light) |
| Electromagnetic waves | A form of energy that can move through the vacuum of space. (Consists of changing electric and magnetic fields) |
| Electron | Extremely small particle in an atom. When electrons lose energy they give off a photon (light) and when they absorb light the gain energy. |
| Focus | The point at which a lens, reflector or antenna directs incoming parallel light rays. |
| Frequency | The number of wavelengths of light that pass a given point in one second. (measured in hertz) |
| hertz | The unit of frequency, equal to one cycle per second |
| Index of refraction | The ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in a certain material. |
| Infrared light | Electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths longer than visible light but shorter than radio waves. |
| Interference | Light traveling throw a narrow slit (or slits) adds and subtracts creating a pattern of dark and light fringes. (same as defraction) |
| laser | An acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation. |
| Law of reflection | The angle of incidence is equal to the angle of reflection. |
| Lens | A transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images. |
| Light | Electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation. |
| Medium | A scientific name for a given substance of a given density. |
| Normal line | imaginary line drawn perpendicular to the surface of a mirror or any surface. |
| Parabola | A plane curve formed by the intersection of a right circular cone and a plane parallel to an element of the curve. |
| Photon | A tiny particle or packet of light energy. |
| Polarized light | Light that vibrates in only one direction. |
| Reflection | Light bouncing off of a surface. |
| Refraction | Bending of a ray of light. |
| Scattering | Light being absorbed and re-radiated by atoms and molecules. |
| Snell's law | Describes precisely how light will bend, or refract, when traveling from one medium to another. |
| Total internal reflection | Light traveling from a more dense to a less dense medium is totally reflected back into to more dense medium. (Also see critical angle) |
| Traverse waves | Waves that vibrate at a right angle to their direction of travel. |
| Ultraviolet light | Light with slightly higher frequency and shorter wavelength that visible light. Also called black light. Causes tanning and sun burn. |
| Unpolarized light | Light waves with electric fields that have no pattern of orientation to its direction of travel. |
| Doppler effect | Change in the apparent frequency of a wave as observer and source move toward or away from each other. |
| Red shift | The change of light waves from retreating objects to the red end of the spectrum. Also, the name for the change in a star's spectrum when it moves away from Earth. |
| Blue shift | The change of light waves from approaching objects to the blue end of the spectrum. Also, the name for the change in a star's spectrum when it moves toward the Earth. |
| Spectrum | Colored band produced when a beam of light passes through a prism. |
| Spectrometer | An instrument that can disperse a beam of light into a spectrum of its component wavelengths. |
| Law of refraction | Light going from fast medium to slow bends toward the normal and light going from slow medium to fast bends away from the normal. |
| Normal | At a right angle to a surface or medium. |
| Angle of incidence | The angle between an incoming wave and an imaginary line drawn perpendicular to the surface of the new medium. |
| Spectral | Of or relating to a spectrum. |
| Diffuse | To spread or scatter freely or widely. |
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