1. Nature of light
1.1. Contributors
1.1.1. Democritus: particles emitted by visible bodies
1.1.2. Pythagoras: emanates from luminous bodies in all directions penetrating the eyes
1.1.3. Aristotle: he considered light as a kind of pulsation in the ether
1.1.4. Epicurus of Samos: light emitted in the form of rays; the sense of sight
1.1.5. Leonardo da Vinci: first to relate light, sound and water with waves
1.1.6. Descartes: the light was pressure which was propagated in a dense universe full of particles and it was perceived through vibrations
1.1.7. Isaac Newton: showed that the corpuscular theory of light could explain the refraction and reflection phenomenas
1.1.8. Christian Huygens: formalized the wave theory of light, which also demostrated the laws of reflection and refraction
1.1.9. Thomas Young: made the first convincing demostration about the nature of light upon discovering that; light had characteristics of superposition (interference)
1.1.10. Jean Foulcault: accepted the wave theory, to show that the speed of light through solids or liquidis was slower than in air.
1.1.11. James Clerk Maxwell: demostrated that light is an electromagnetic wave of high frequency that is displaced in a vacuum with the speed of 3x10*8 m/s
1.1.12. Rudolf Hertz: light like electromagnetic waves, presented the phenomenas of reflection, refraction and diffraction
1.1.13. Max Planck: returns to the corpuscularinterpretation of light to explain the radiation emitted by a black body, iniating the quantum mechanics
1.1.13.1. Quanta and Photons
1.1.13.1.1. In this model, he proposed that thermal energy emitted by a body is presented in discrete packages called quanta which, in the particular case of light energy, are called photons.
1.1.14. Albert Einstein: explained the photoelectric effect using Plnck´s quantum theory
2. Speed of light
2.1. Contributors
2.1.1. Galileo Galilei: made the first attemps to experimentally measure the speed of the light, based on the known distance between two towers; he was only able to confirm that light was transmitted instantly
2.1.2. Olaus Roemer: was thw first to estimate the speed of light by studying one of the moons of Jupiter, based on the irregularities produced by ecplises of these moons. He noticed 2.31x10*8 m/s
2.1.3. A. H. L. Fizeau: in a simple experiment, the interferometer, in where he used a rotating cogwheel, a plane mirror, a semi-transparent plate, and a source of light; he calculated 3.13x10*8 m/s
2.1.4. Albert A. Michelson: used Foucault`s method, he perfected the interferometer and obtained 3x10*8 m/s
3. Refelction of light
3.1. Reflection
3.1.1. It is a phenomenon that describes how light returns to its original medium as a reault of an impact on a surface
3.1.1.1. Law of reflection
3.1.1.1.1. The ray of light that touches a surface with one angle of incidence is reflected with one angle of reflection
3.2. Mirror
3.2.1. It is a smooth surface, so the rays are reflected or repulsed in a single direction
3.3. Rays
3.3.1. Incident
3.3.1.1. It reaches the mirror
3.3.2. Reflected
3.3.2.1. It is the repulsed ray
4. Newton and the prism. The visible spectrum of light is the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye. It ranges from a wavelength of 400nm to 700nm. In addition, it is also known by another name: the optical spectrum of light. So these are the waves that make up what we call visible light
5. It is the branch of physics that studies light and the phenomena it produces
5.1. Light
5.1.1. The light, like any electromagnetic radiation, acts as a wave-particle
5.1.2. The light is considered a disturbance with the characteristics of an electromagnetic wave because it can be transmitted in a vacuum
5.1.3. Change of frequency
5.1.3.1. Blueshift
5.1.3.1.1. When it increases
5.1.3.2. Redshift
5.1.3.2.1. When it decreases
6. Geometric optics
6.1. It studies the behavior of light propogated in straight lines called rays
7. Physical optics
7.1. We consider light as waves
8. Quantum optics
8.1. The light is considered a corpuscle, that consists in small particles that move and impact on objects, making them visible.
9. Electromagnetic and visible spectrums
9.1. Electromagnetic spectrum
9.1.1. It is made up of the different kinds of electromagnetic radition present in an electric field and a magnetic field
9.1.1.1. Ultraviolet
9.1.1.2. Infrared
9.1.1.3. Radio waves
9.1.1.4. X rays
9.1.1.5. Gamma rays
9.1.1.6. Visible light
9.2. Visible spectrum
10. Mirror and lenses
10.1. Plane mirror
10.1.1. The reflective surface is flat, the distance from a object is the same that the image, the images are not real.
10.2. Spherical mirror
10.2.1. In which the surface of the inside part of a sphere is reflective
10.2.2. Concave mirror
10.2.2.1. Per the above, it is called converging mirror
10.2.3. Convex mirror
10.2.3.1. In which the reflective surface of the outside part of a mirror is spherical
10.2.3.2. Focus or focal point (f)
10.2.3.2.1. In which the rays reflected coincide is the mid point of the radius of curvature
10.3. The critical angle
10.3.1. The angle of incidence in which the total internal reflection is characteristic of each medium
10.4. Principal rays in mirrors: production of images
10.4.1. Parallel ray to the axis of the mirror
10.4.1.1. It is reflected and passes through the focus of a concave mirror or comes from the focus of a convex mirror
10.4.2. Focal ray
10.4.2.1. Which passes through the focus and is reflected parallel to the axis of the mirror
10.4.3. Main ray
10.4.3.1. It passes through the center of the curvature and is relected along the lenght of the trajectory of the original ray
10.5. Refraction of light and total internal reflection
10.5.1. Index of refraction
10.5.1.1. Law of Willebrord Snell
10.5.1.1.1. For two transparent mediums, the ratio between the sine of the angle of incidence and the sine of the angle of refraction has a characteristic value (n)
10.5.2. Total Internal reflection
10.5.2.1. This phenomenon occurs when the angle of refraction is greater than that of incidence
10.6. Lenses
10.6.1. These are tranparent objects, made of crystal or transparent plastic, and are limited by two surfaces, one spherical and one flat, or two spherical
10.6.2. These refract the light as they alter yhe shape of a front of waves passing from one medium to another
10.6.3. Converging lenses
10.6.3.1. It converges and refracts a parallel light at a focal point (F) beyond the lenses
10.6.4. Diverging lenses
10.6.4.1. It refracts and diverges a prallel light from a focal point (F) located in front of the lens
10.6.5. Axis
10.6.5.1. It is the straight line that passes horizontally trhrough the center