Name: ____________________________
Nature of Light
1. What does the statement, “if there was no light, there is no sight” mean? Explain
in your own words.
2. How could you explain what “light” is to someone who has never even heard of
light?
3. How is it possible for you to see an object? Explain the term “sight line” in words
and a picture.
4. Answer Check your Understanding questions #1-4 in the Line of Sight section.
Make comments about each of the mirror drawings and draw the correct ray
diagram in the space below.
5. A beam of a searchlight is easy to see when it is foggy, harder to see when the
weather is clear. Why?
6. Law of Reflection: The ray of light strikes an angle incidence is the angle between
the ______________ line and the incident ray. The ________________ line is a
line that is ______ degrees from the surface of the mirror. The angle of
__________________ is the angle between the normal line and the reflected ray.
In summary,
Angle of ______________ = Angle of ________________
7. Watching the Animations on the Physics Classroom and Molecular Expressions
websites
a. The normal line is always ______________ to the surface.
b. Your eye will focus on the __________ ray of light, which is traced back
into the mirror.
8. Answer Check your Understanding questions #1-4 in the Law of Reflection
section. Make comments and answers in the spaces below.
9. Explain the difference between spectral and diffuse reflections. Using the
Molecular Expressions animation, what changes as the color of light ray changes?
a. Draw a sketch of a spectral and disuse reflection.
10. What would you see in the world around you if there were no reflections?