Overview: Light and Applications of Optics

Let's learn about light: what it is, how it is produced, how it interacts with matter, and how technologies have enabled us to make use of light and its properties. Light is a form of energy that affects our daily lives, enabling us to see and to communicate with others. You will come to recognize that light is essential to life and that light's properties have allowed us to develop technologies based on light that improve our quality of life.

Unit 4.1  What is Light and How is it Produced?

Develop an understanding of what light is and how it is produced. Light can be represented as waves and different colours of light have different wavelengths.

Unit 4.2  How Does Light Interact With Objects to Give Them Colour?

Examine how light interacts with objects to give them colour. You will learn that light can be reflected, absorbed, or transmitted by objects. Investigate how objects can absorb some colours and reflect or transmit others.

Unit 4.3 How Can You Mix Colours to Make Different Colours?

Explain optical phenomena and technology to apply additive and subtractive colour theory. Additive primary colours of light add to form complimentary colours. Investigate and use subtractive colour theory to explain colours of pigments and objects.

Unit 4.4 What is the Law of Reflection and How Do Mirrors Form Images?

Investigate laws of reflection and how mirrors form images. Consider how and why smooth surfaces reflect light in predictable ways and analyze how convex and concave mirrors differ from plane mirrors. By the end of this topic, you will be able to use ray diagrams to represent how mirrors form images.

Unit 4.5 What is Refraction and How Can it be Used?

Investigate refraction: the bending of light when it crosses a boundary between two substances. Build on yourr representational skills to draw ray diagrams to record your observations. Learn about fibre optics, a common application of refraction.

Unit 4.6 What Are Lenses and What are Some of Their Applications?

Investigate properties and uses of converging lenses. Lenses have at least one curved surface and refract light in predictable ways. Additionally, lenses can be used to produce different types of images.